Dangerous Baggage

Posted on Wed 30th Nov, 2022 @ 5:45am by Makila i'Hartelhai & Lieutenant JG Kellian Michaels

1,179 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: A Fresh Perspective
Location: Makila's home
Timeline: MD 7 1700

Makila had done a rather extensive clean on her quarters in the 2 days since she'd been in the Brown Sector and had made a rather grisly discovery of the body of the girl. She'd felt a bit sullied by the discovery and the uncertainty the whole day had raised in her about her budding relationship with Kellian Michaels. The cleaning made her feel better, and having a place for everything also helped her feel more in control of her small slice of the universe. Not so much about him, though. He was supposed to be coming over tonight, to speak at length about his baggage. What if he doesn't come? What if it's not worth it to him to explain his secrets to you?

Outside, Kellian rang Makila's doorbell, wondering if this might be the last time she'd ever ask him inside. The thought of that tore at Kellian with a physical ache that surprised him. I've let her become that important to me, he realized. Now I don't want to let her go. The understanding made him want to glow and yet shiver with alarm at the same time. He took deep, slow breaths and fought to relax.

Previously she'd thought about just programming the door to allow him admission, because she enjoyed his company whenever he graced her with his presence. Rising on bare feet, she opened the door for him. His nerves were as palpable as she thought hers were, and she reached through the opening, to grasp his hand and pull him into her home.

The touch of her hand on his made Kellian relax. An electric tingle arose where their skin touched. She looked as nervous as he felt, Kellian thought. "How are you?" he asked.

"I'm not precisely sure" she answered honestly, gazing at him, her purple eyes uncertain and there was an unhidden, almost palpable anxiety in the room, centered around what was to come. "And you?"

"Nervous," Kellian said. "In twenty years, I've told only one other person what I'm about to tell you, and I was drunk at the time. I haven't allowed myself to get drunk since."

"Do you need liquid courage?" she asked, knowing that she had some fairly nice human vintages in her cabinet.

Kellian shook his head, startled that she would ask. "No--but some iced water would be good."

She poured him a cup from the pitcher within a cooling field, and passed it over to him. Makila tucked her feet back under the blanket and gestured with her hand that he should sit beside her. They could share the blanket while he told his tale.

"Thank you," Kellian said after he'd taken a long swallow. "That antifungal was nasty. I sweated buckets, and now I'm thirsty all the time." He sat beside Makila on the sofa. "I, uh, guess I should start?"

"I vomited up everything i'd eaten in weeks" she admitted with a wry smile, nodding at him that he should indeed start. She was eager to hear his truths, and terrified to learn them.

"For several hours I felt like I had pneumonia. Not fun," Kellian said. He took another sip of water to stall for a second or two more and then finally set the tumbler firmly down on a table and looked at Makila. "I don't know how to tell you this," he admitted. "Makila, my family--not my father, but my grandfather and my uncles--are in organized crime. Or maybe now they're just on the run; I don't know. My father defected from the organization twenty years ago, and Grandpa, who was the leader of it, took that--very badly, as Dad was supposed to inherit. To Granddad it was the worst possible betrayal."

"Organized crime, like the ancient Mafia?" she asked, mostly for clarification than anything else.

Kellian gave her a startled look. "You know about Earth's Mafia? Yes, but Irish, not Italian. Based in a different country on Earth." He sighed. "Granddad is not normal. When I was a kid, all I knew was to be careful around him, that sometimes he was nice, and other times he was scary. My grandmother divorced him. I always felt a lot safer and more comfortable with my mother's parents and Grandma than with Granddad.

"I can't even imagine what it must have been like for Dad, growing up with him. Dad used to tell me he was Granddad's golden child, that he could do no wrong growing up. He worked hard to maintain that situation because doing otherwise was sheer misery. It was my mother who first told him he was a jerk and made him want to straighten himself out. She was the only woman he'd ever met who spoke to him honestly because everyone else was afraid of Granddad. That's why he eventually left. The person he wanted to be wasn't consistent with the person Granddad wanted him to be."

"I can relate, to a point. Papa stole me from the Tal Shiar and we spent many years moving from place to place to find somewhere safe from their influence. It's made for an interesting life, and one full of missed opportunities for Papa, I think. He never got many of the things he wanted in life because of protecting me. I don't suppose there's much difference between the Tal'Shiar and the Mafia."

"Your father considered you more than worth it. You only have to see the way he looks at you, to know," Kellian said with a momentary smile. "If I had a child, I'd consider keeping my child safe my life's work." He sighed. "I can directly relate."

Kellian took another sip of water and went on. "Dad used my birth to distance himself from the day-to-day criminal stuff, and Granddad let him for a few years, but eventually he called Dad to come fully back in, and Dad refused to go." Kellian took another gulp of water but held the glass for several seconds before setting it down and speaking again.

"Very soon after that, when I was ten, my mother--died. We--told people it was in a car wreck, but it was a--car bomb, meant for my Dad. Granddad had told him, 'You leave the business when I say you may leave, not before.' He meant it. He tried to kidnap me, but that attempt failed. It was the last straw for Dad. He applied for us to be put into witness protection. We were approved very quickly, and we've lived that way ever since."

She felt those words, they had the power to impact him as well as her. He'd been deeply hurt when his mother had died, and she could feel its effect even now. Makila reached out and rested her hand upon his, a gentle gesture of support as his story unfolded.

Kellian intertwined his fingers with Makila's. He breathed a momentary sigh of relief. "All of this means, Kellian Michaels isn't the name I was born with. My name is Kieran Maguire."

 

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