Ease the Concerns

Posted on Wed Nov 23rd, 2011 @ 10:22am by Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake & Petty Officer 3rd Class Sehra Vahn
Edited on on Sun Dec 29th, 2013 @ 12:43am

1,646 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Taylforth
Location: Lounge

The view of the blue orb below seemed to goad Lieutenant Blake as he stared through the panoramic window of the ships lounge. The ever moving tidal waters of the planets oceans churned and danced across the planets surface offering no answers to the riddle the Ranger was investigating piece by piece. Blake shuddered at the natural power of the unsettled waters and rubbed the rising goosebumps under his tunic, then with tremendous effort he pulled his attention back to the woman before him.

He offered a sympathetic smile and dismissive shake of his head: "Sorry, what were you saying?" he replied. The lovely woman across the table seemed to take all this in her stride as she had always for the last few weeks during their steady, yet tentative relationship, each still cautious of their movements.

It didn't keep her from shooting him a playfully exasperated look. Sehra was not usually lost for words and part of her job entailed being able to hold a conversation regardless of retaliatory feedback but this was a social situation with someone she hadn't seen in over two weeks; someone she had actually missed more than she had expected for all she couldn't deny she enjoyed his company. Given the amount of angst that had been created by their decision to date, it was probably fortunate that neither of them had balked at the intimacy but there was no disguising the fact that her absence clearly hadn't been enough to keep Dylan focused. Keeping her concern carefully hidden behind the face that she pulled at him, the Betazoid retorted, "Oh nothing, I was just amusing myself with anecdotes of naked relatives." She grinned despite her nervousness.

Blake's expression was a picture having been innocently naive to Betazed traditions and mannerisms. He stumbled over his words: "Wha- what on Earth are you talking about?" he lent across the table having glanced over his shoulder for eavesdroppers. " I thought you were going to witness a wedding not some sordid romp."
Her two week abscence felt endless as he came to terms to just how much she meant to him already. Although their realtionship had been slow paced he already felt more connected with her than any previous love interests.

The Betazoid's eyebrows shot upwards, partially in astonishment as her keen senses picked up on his seriousness but also in increasing amusement as she wondered at what he must be thinking. She was certain she'd mentioned enough about her family for him to suppose she felt reasonably close to them, but that close? Her blue eyes flashed with merriment as she leaned forward to mimic his stance. "Well, firstly, I'm not talking about anything on Earth. On Earth, I'm sure naked frolics with one's nearest and dearest would seem a little...sordid." Sehra's lips twitched with unrealised mirth. "On Betazed, our customs are a little more liberating and tend to include standing around in the buff chatting with your aunts and uncles." Not unkindly, she chuckled. "Betazed weddings traditionally don't involve a lot of clothing, Dylan. It isn't really a big deal."

His mouth moved wordlessly for a moment before whispered: "Not a big deal... remind me not attend any of these traditional weddings..." he murmured before leaning back in his seat. Trouble was now he could not himself from visualising himself wearing nothing more than a bow tie trying to cover his modesty while trapped in some dull, long winded conversation with Aunt Angus whom had always been able to send someone to sleep through her constant talks of the good old days.

He shivered at the thought.

"I hope everything went alright and the happy couple are, well, happy." he frowned slightly as his sentence failed complete itself. He shook it off and smiled moving a hand towards hers that rested upon the table top: "Anyway it's good to have you back, I missed you."

Even her mounting self-doubt was never going to be strong enough to override the pure happiness behind Sehra's grin as she recognised the sincerity of his words and felt herself relax. Reaching across the table to meet him, she slipped both her hands into his and gave them a squeeze. "I missed you too," she replied truthfully. "My family are fun but a little difficult to take in such a large dose. Besides," she added, looking towards the view that had distracted him earlier, "It looks like I missed something more exciting. What exactly are we doing here again?"

"Well that's kind of complicated," Dylan began feeling a comforting warmth travel up his arms like electricity from her touch. "We received a distress call from the fourth planet in the system, but since they haven't explored space travel save for the odd manned shuttle and such we can't really jump straight in. Beside their messages are very difficult to understand and has been giving the UT a tough time. Scans have revealed the planet didn't use to be a water world, the raising oceans was something to do with a natural disaster and the natives took to large vessels to remain alive...however that's not all of it." Blake paused willing himself not to glance outside again and to give Serha his full attention. "I've uncovered evidence that Romulans are involved somehow and might be linked with station upon the planets moon."

"Romulans?" Sehra's forehead creased in an uncharacteristic frown. If she was honest, the young Betazoid still had a lot to learn about the intricacies of StarFleet service, something she would hopefully be more exposed to through her current studies, but even without specifics to accurately refer to she could identify situations that were less than ideal. More than that, Dylan was distracted despite the fact that she had sensed he was being genuine in saying he missed her. Fixing him with a concerned stare, the brunette considered the information a moment before adding, "That's not a good thing, right?"

Blake shrugged. "Don't know yet, I don't understand what would bring them here, but it certainly complicated things. Still, I'd rather face them then to go down to the surface of that water world."

Even though she'd done her best to bury her earlier insecurity, Sehra tilted her head as she observed the young engineer and then frowned deeply at the barely muted anxiety she could sense from him. One of the things she had grown to love about Dylan, even if she hadn't dared put it in such strong terms, was his easy-going optimism and quick humour. They had fun together. There was a deeper side to him though, it was that aspect of his personality that had allowed her to pursue a relationship with him. He had his demons, just as she did, and spent a lot of his energy trying not to let them rule his life. She knew only too well how much easier that was to say than do.

Letting go of his hand, the Betazoid rose and dragged her chair around until it was next to his before plopping down again, her hand slipping onto his leg to seek a more intimate touch of reassurance. "Has the Captain said you have to?"

He glanced down at her traveling arm briefly before meeting her eye, wanting nothing more than to pull her into a loving embrace. "No, she's not said anything yet. Though I think it will only be a matter of time."

It struck Sehra that the fact that she even knew what was bothering him was something of an unusual state of affairs given the relative brevity of their relationship. It was Dylan's preference to keep a fairly casual attitude, some might even have called him shallow, but the fear in his eyes was no act and his willingness to share it with her so openly made the Betazoid forget her insecurity for a moment and seek to comfort with an uncomplicated kiss. Frowning as she pulled back, her free hand found his and gave it a tender squeeze. "It is listed in your medical file," she replied quietly. "If it constitutes a risk to yourself and the mission, there's nothing wrong with telling her so."

Natrually she was right Dylan knew deep inside but the factor that his phobia restricted him and reduced his normally clear mind into mush didn't help. He nodded slowly interlacing his finger with hers and sighed. "I know, but... I don't want everyone knowing about it."

"Dylan, I don't think Captain Halliwell is the type to divulge personal information inappropriately." Pausing a moment, Sehra pictured the stoic starship captain and fixed her boyfriend with a bemused grin. "In fact, I'm sure she's not. I also think she'd be pretty ticked off with you if you didn't mention it and something happened."

He grimaced at the thought and possibility causing him to shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Yeah, I suspect she would be, I know I would be. I guess I just don't want to hang out my laundry for prying eyes."

"Come on then."

Never one for sitting around moping, Sehra stood up and offered Dylan both her hands and a warm grin to match the flash of enthusiasm in her eyes. "If you sit here worrying about this all day, you're going to give yourself grey hairs. Let's take a run, I thought up the perfect setting on the trip back."

Her warmth and perky character was something Dylan simply could never resist and would never tire of. Her smile and glimmer of mischief in her eyes bought a grin back to his own downtrodden face.
He took her extended hands and stood. "Oh, will I like it?" he asked threading an arm around her waist. "Just please tell me we'll not going to come across any of those nude relatives at the wedding."

 

RSS Feed