Spending on a Relationship II

Posted on Fri 12th Mar, 2021 @ 12:21am by Lieutenant Damion Ildaran & Elizabeth Anderson M.D.
Edited on on Sun 25th Apr, 2021 @ 2:33am

1,031 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Business Not At All As Usual
Location: Damion Ildaron's Quarters
Timeline: MD-3, 1720 hours

The best things to spend on your relationship are time, conversation, understanding, and honesty." --Unknown

Previously, over a lovely steak dinner ...


Swallowing her food, Elizabeth said, "Then it seems like you have an answer. Unless there's more to it than that? What would you be doing for this Agent Pantoufle? Wait," she put down her fork and clutched the napkin in her lap. "Do you actually want this opportunity, and you're looking for a reason to say yes?"

Damion smiled at her. "I can never hide anything from you."

Anderson laughed, "I do have certain advantages."

And now, the answers to some questions ....

---

Damion swallowed a bite of the excellent steak and then looked back at Elizabeth. "Now that Intelligence has uncovered him, SCIS will be carrying out the Dobbs investigation. Ms. Pantoufle didn't say so, but I suspect that might be why she tapped me--that, and I assisted in a couple of organized crime cases early in my career. She made no promises," he put in before Elizabeth could pose objections.

"She gave no assurances whatsoever that I would be working on that case--which is a good thing, because I powerfully want to bring that man in--perhaps too powerfully. She asked me if not getting to work on the Dobbs case would be a deal breaker. I told her no. There's a universe of other mischief going on in the Federation. If I would work for them, I should be prepared to handle whatever mischief I'm assigned, just as I would if I stayed in Intelligence. I'm not looking at this possible transfer as an excuse to maintain a vendetta."

Studying him across the table, Elizabeth was sure that was the case. While Damion had a strong sense of justice, or perhaps because of that, he saw himself as the one who brought someone to judgment, not the one who delivered it.

"No," she said at last, "I wouldn't expect you to think in those terms. I'm not sure I understand what you could do working for Pantoufle that you can't do in your current position. I don't see the attraction of working for SCIS, the advantages for you." She picked up her fork again and began to eat. "Or the advantages for Starfleet, either. Tell me more."

Damion dug into his baked potato, which was loaded with cheese, sour cream, and chives and was still steaming. "Intelligence won't do anything further with Dobbs; that investigation is in SCIS's hands now. What I can do working for Agent Pantoufle, most importantly, is to facilitate communication between our departments. We don't ever want a situation where we're both investigating the same thing and could share information but don't know it. I can bring an Intelligence point of view to her investigations, and I can bring information about SCIS cases to the Intelligence department's attention, if it seems warranted.

"If I am called upon to contribute to the SCIS investigation of Dobbs, I can provide them with my impressions of things that I saw and experienced during the whole Alegari affair." Damion shrugged. "And, if they should ever want me to do the odd bit of field work, I'd not complain. I've noticed that Agent Pantoufle does a fair bit of that, herself. I've seen her working undercover twice here on 109. As for advantages to me--it would widen my professional experience. It would give me exposure to law enforcement techniques and an understanding of how they work that I don't currently have. Part of working toward promotion entails being what they call 'well rounded.' You get exposure to different ideas and different methods with experience in different departments. It widens your skillset for problem-solving and project management."

"It sounds like you've given this a lot of thought, and are feeling pretty positive about it. Is it actually a promotion for you - more rank, more credits ... more glory?" she smiled at him, and leaned back in her chair. She, herself, was not convinced, but it wasn't her career. There were worrisome parts to the proposed change for Damion, and it would mean changes for their relationship, as well. She wondered if he had thought about those, but she didn't ask. It wasn't a consideration, in reality.

Damion speared a forkful of salad and chewed on it for a moment.

"No promotion in it, as far as I'm aware, at least not for a while. It would be pretty much a lateral transfer with possibly a slight pay increase. I'll know more once I speak in depth with Agent Pantoufle. I'd like to have a much clearer idea of what the job entails. The little I do know of law enforcement work is that the shifts can be long if you're deep into a case; you don't just clock out at 1700 each day." He grimaced. "That would eat into our time together."

"More a problem for you than for me," Elizabeth said, at first without thinking that could be taken two ways. "I mean, I don't have to sleep," she clarified, and then went on. "Do you have to commit to the move before you can talk to this woman, or can you get more information from her before deciding? Or really, have you already decided at least 75% of the way?"

Damion stifled a laugh at Elizabeth's comment. "No, I don't have to commit yet. I have time to meet with her and discuss matters before I decide. I am ... interested in the offer because I had never considered such a thing before."

"Okay, so let's role play a little," the counselor in Anderson suggested. "Pretend I'm this woman who holds your future in her hands and ask me questions. What do you want to know?" She set an internal recorder so they wouldn't lose any surprises that came up.

Damion chuckled for a moment. "The first question that entered my mind upon meeting her was, 'How in blazes do you walk in those shoes?'"

Anderson laughed, "I don't think that would help you decide about the job ... unless you are changing footwear."

 

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