This isn't the reckoning you were looking for.

Posted on Thu 19th Oct, 2023 @ 1:02am by Makila i'Hartelhai & Lieutenant JG Kellian Michaels

1,455 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Neither Yours Nor Mine
Location: Security Deck 577
Timeline: MD 5: 1730

Previously: Darkness engulfed her as she pressed her hands over her e yes. Makila was giving herself a headache. Since she was thinking herself in circles, spirals with no end of their depth into her psyche. She needed to see him.

"Computer, Location of Lieutenant Michaels?"




The Conclusion:

The computer answered, "Lieutenant Michaels is in the phaser shooting range on Deck 577," the computer announced.

"Is he currently with anyone?" she chewed on her lip, not really wanting there to be an audience for her next set of actions.

"There are three other occupants using the range, as well as range staff." The computer paused for a moment. "Lt. Michaels is currently moving toward the range's main exit."

Double checking her location to the main range, and its exit she made her way to the closest turbo-shaft that offered her the most expedient way there. Hopefully before he had a chance to get too far away from the range itself, maybe she calculated before he'd actually made it to the exit. He would notice her, she hoped. There was anxiety gnawing in the pit of her stomach as she watched the door, hoping she hadn't missed him.

Kellian ensured that his sidearm was discreetly holstered on his person before stepping outside the phaser range and letting the door slide closed behind him. He contemplated what he was going to do for the rest of the evening. Practicing the cello held little appeal, which was why he'd gone to the firing range in the first place--that and he had to remain qualified in weapons anyway. Maybe a walk around Tivoli Gardens, just to see the sights? Maybe grab a funnel cake?

He discarded that idea. No funnel cake--but there was a food cart that sold cinnamon-dusted almonds, and it was close to where Dr. s'Siedhri's clinic was; he could walk right by where Makila lived. Not that that made any difference, of course.

May I please stop acting like some callow youth, pining over a girl? I'm too old for that. She's not interested, and I don't blame her, not when she has a father to look after, just like I do.

And then, to Kellian's complete astonishment, he saw her.

Makila looked like she was on a mission in a hurry. Her loose, dark curls bounced as she walked at a ground-eating pace down the corridor. Why was she on the security decks, he wondered? Was someone ill? No, couldn't be; she was out of uniform.

"Makila?" he called out and began walking toward her. In for a penny, in for a pound, he told himself.

Hearing her name, and his voice she turned on her heel. He'd not come out of the main exit, and a smile tugged at her lips. Of course he has not. Surprise vanished, and warmth blossomed in her eyes.

Say it. Say I missed you.

"Hi" her traitorous, rebellious mouth spoke instead.

"I--It's good to see you," Kellian blurted. "I was beginning to think--I didn't want to intrude."

"You wouldn't have been an intrusion. You probably would have helped the thoughts spin faster...I..." licking her full lips she whispered "Can we talk in privacy somewhere?"

Kellian let out a breath. "Absolutely. Your place or mine?"

"Yours" she said softly, for his quarters were closer and they were less likely to be interrupted at his home. Her patients couldn't find her, and if there was an emergency they would contact her father.

Kellian slid an arm around her, and they walked toward the nearest turbolift. "I've missed you like crazy. I'd just worked up the nerve to walk by your house this evening and see if you were home. I'm sorry I didn't come before now."

Makila leaned into his embrace, and then they entered the lift and they were alone she slid her hand into his. Connection made, she allowed herself to simply enjoy the embrace for what it was, and acknowledge how much she'd missed it in the time that she had been thinking about all of the things. She'd been thinking too much and maybe action was what was needed. "I missed you too."

They rode the turbolift the few decks upward to where Kellian lived. This was a crew quarters deck for officers, and Kellian had enough time in service along with his rank to have been allotted a cabin he didn't have to share.

She was supremely glad that he didn't have to share quarters. If he had, they'd be taking the longer route to her home and that would have opened them up to many potential distractions, not to mention her patients. She'd made a habit of not allowing knowledge of where she actually lived, but people never failed to find her when they needed her. Soft fingers entwined with his longer digits, and she squeezed gently to let him know she was here.

Kellian's quarters were small, as lieutenants' quarters went, with beige walls and rust-colored upholstery. He kept his cello and bow on their stand in one corner. His workspace was to the left as one entered, while his sleeping area and the head were behind a wall to the right. A sofa and coffee table occupied the wall opposite the door as one entered.

"Have a seat," Kellian said as they stepped inside. He stowed his phaser in a cabinet that he locked with his thumbprint and then turned to Makila. "Would you like anything to drink or eat? I'm going to have some hot chocolate."

Chocolate had something of an intoxicant effect on those with copper-based blood, and she thought about it for a moment chewing her lower lip. That might be just the push she needed, her decision made she nodded slightly, even though he wasn't looking at her. Did he know it had that affect on her? She didn't generally consume chocolate because of the relaxation of her inhibitions, even though her Betazoid side blunted the effects of the indulgence. "I wouldn't mind one as well. Dark chocolate and a hint of raspberry though, please."

Kellian blinked at her request but nodded. "All right. Computer, one hot chocolate made with dark chocolate and raspberry, and one Mexican hot chocolate, please."

A moment later, the replicator in his quarters chimed and its door opened. Kellian removed a tray bearing two ceramic mugs of softly-steaming chocolate from the build tray. He sniffed them and handed the raspberry-scented one to Makila, keeping the cinnamon-scented one for himself. "I hope you don't mind the whipped cream. It keeps the beverage from spilling out, and it melts into the chocolate."

She nodded, her curls trembling around her face as she accepted the hot cup from him. Taking a sip, she made a pleased noise deep in her throat at the subtle flavors and the bite of raspberry. On an empty stomach, the hot chocolate warmed her in exactly the way she hoped it would and she sighed deeply. A wisp of cream clung to her lip, and a swipe of her tongue eliminated it.

Kellian sipped from his own mug and sighed with contentment as the sweet chocolate and the bite of cinnamon and other spices went down his throat. He too licked cream off his upper lip. "I'm really glad to see you tonight. I was afraid I had frightened you off forever. And I thought that might be a wise thing, for your sake."

"I can't get you, and that story you told me out of my head" she admitted quietly as she looked away from him, and into her cup.

"Honestly, I would like to get that story out of my head," Kellian said wryly. He gazed at her. "Yet here we are." He paused and took another sip of chocolate, to collect his thoughts. "How do you want to move forward, Makila? Do you want to move forward? Or just remain friends?"

Warring with herself as to what to do, she placed her cup on the tiny table. It made a soft sound, and would draw the attention away from what she was about to do.

If you do not tell him how you feel you will lose him. If that happens, you will regret it forever, and you will hurt him just as deeply as you will hurt yourself.

It was a single fluid motion to get her from where she was seated, to perched gently in his lap. She no longer wanted to resist her inner drive to know this man as deeply as she knew herself. So...she acted. Her lips grazed his jaw as she whispered into his ear "Kiss me, Kieran"

 

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