Surprise

Posted on Fri Dec 22nd, 2017 @ 7:13am by Lieutenant Temperance Zachary

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: Strat - OPS office
Timeline: Current

ON:

Roberto was not on flight schedule while the ship was docked so he had spent most of his morning aboard the station. He was on a mission to find something special for someONE special - Lieutenant Temperance Zachary. He had only met her yesterday but they had spent a very pleasant evening together. It had been an evening of dining, conversation, and - later in her quarters - dancing. Even though they had only just met, he wanted to show her just how he felt. So he had gone shopping and found what he thought was the perfect gift for her - a red rose handcrafted of glass.

It had only taken a few minutes when he'd returned to the ship to find her office in Strategic Operations. He walked in and immediately spotted her at a desk, studying a PADD intently. He watched her for a moment, just admiring her, before walking closer.

"Hello there beautiful..." he said quietly.

Temperance sat at her desk, her legs crossed neatly, trying to bring herself up to speed on everything that had been happening on the ship. To be honest, it was largely starting to feel like she was walking in to an unmitigated disaster given everything that this ship and the crew had been exposed to in their most recent missions, it all left her feeling somewhat uneasy. Setting one PADD aside she picked up another, rubbing at her temples lightly with her fingertips before leaning back in her chair and starting on a new round of reports.
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The sound of Roberto's voice startled her from her thoughts. She set the PADD aside and looked at him standing in the doorway. "Roberto," she said with a smile. "I didn't expect to see you so soon..." she stood up, reaching for the jacket that she had taken off earlier and was draped over the back of her chair. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting company," she said with a smile, "But believe me, you are a more than welcome distraction."

"I...uh...I really enjoyed last night..." he began slowly. "Dinner with you, and the conversation, and..." he hesitated. Damn, why was he having so much trouble putting his thoughts into words? Shaking his head just the slightest bit as though to clear his thoughts, he added. "...and the dance." He took a deep breath then forged ahead. "Last night I gave you a rose from the arboretum and you said that roses were your favorite flower, but this morning I realized that fresh flowers eventually die and I wanted to give you something to show you how I feel that would never die, so I got you this." He knew it was a lot to say in one sentence, but he felt that he had to say it all at once for it to make any sense. With that, he brought his hand out from behind him and held the glass rose out to her.

She gasped, moving around her desk to stand in front of him, taking the glass rose in her hands and holding it carefully. "Oh goodness, it is exquisite!" she ran one finger across the smooth edges of the petals, each delicately outlined and coloured. "Thank you... but you didn't have to." She looked up at him and smiled. "I enjoyed last night too," she said softly. "I'm sorry it ended as abruptly as it did... but..." she sighed. "You understand?"

"I do understand," he said as he looked around to make sure no one was within hearing distance. He was not embarrassed or anything like that - he just felt that, at this point, things between himself and Temp were not of anyone else's concern. And he also felt that if there was to be any relationship between them he had to be completely honest with her. "Did I want things to go further last night? I'd be lying if I said no. But...if anything happens - when it happens - it will be because it's something that we both want. And we will know when the time is right. I would never, ever force anything that you don't want. That's not who I am."

"I know," she replied with a smile. "I trust you." She set the rose down on her desk, afraid that if she kept handling it it would fall through her now shaky fingers and she would drop it. "Look, I've been staring at these things for hours," she said, motioning to the mountain of PADD's spread over the desk. "I think I'm due a break and right now I would kill for a chamomile tea! Do you want to go for a walk, maybe get a coffee or something?" she paused, suddenly realising that it was entirely possible that he was meant to be elsewhere already. "That is, unless you're busy?"

"I'm not busy at all," he answered. "When we're docked at a station, unless there's an emergency, we flyboys don't have much to do except sit around, talk, and look for pretty girls." This last was said with a wink at her. "And since I've already found one, I'm all yours for as long as you'd like."

"Well I'm sure if you hang around the station long enough you'd find some tall, leggy blonde dabo girl who wouldn't mind a bit of fun..." she replied easily, grabbing her jacket and shrugging into it. Zipping it, she tugged at the hem, suddenly feeling rather awkward again. "But if you don't mind being with plain, dull me, where do you want to go?"

"I've never been good at Dabo, I'm not into tall blondes, and sweetheart you are neither plain nor dull," he responded. "And I don't mind being with you at all. If we had time I would suggest a walk in the arboretum but you have to work and the arboretum doesn't serve tea so why don't we hit ten-forward. This time of shift they shouldn't be very busy."

"Tea can wait, the arboretum sounds wonderful and I haven't seen it yet." Tempted to reach for his hand, she bit her bottom lip momentarily before instead putting her hands in her pockets. "You will need to be in charge of logistics, I will just end up getting us lost and we're likely to end up in waste processing or something!" she laughed as she looked up at him. "Shall we?"

"Yes ma'am," he responded. As they walked out of her office he had the urge to put his arm around her, but was unsure what her reaction might be to a public display such as that. Then he remembered that his father had once told him that sometimes it was easier to get forgiveness than permission so as they reached the turbolift and the door opened, he put his arm around her and ushered her inside, then called for the deck where the arboretum was located. "I think you'll like the arboretum," he said as the lift began to move. "I've heard that there's a nice quiet little grotto with a waterfall somewhere in it."

Temperance smiled at the feel of his arm around her and leaned into him. "You've not explored it yourself?" she asked quietly, taking her hands from her pockets and putting one hand over top of his hand on her shoulder. "It sounds very..." her voice trailed off as she decided that her initial response was possibly not entirely the correct thing to say. "It sounds very pretty."

"I have not. I've never had a reason to go there until yesterday when I got your rose there," was his response to her question about exploring the arboretum. "Never had anyone to take there before now." As they waited for the lift to stop, he marveled at how things seemed to be with them. He was quite a bit taller than her but he didn't mind that and she didn't seem to either. In fact, as they danced last night she had seemed to fit in his arms rather well.

Just then the lift stopped and the doors opened to reveal the arboretum entrance. As they entered, he dropped his hand from her shoulder, then took her hand in his, interlacing their fingers. "Smells so nice in here," he said. "It can almost make you forget you're on a starship."

"It does, it smells gorgeous..." She sighed softly, smiling as she squeezed his hand lightly. "So where do we start? Left or right?"

Roberto thought for a moment. "Let's go left. I think I hear the sound of running water which probably means that's where the waterfall is." He smiled at her. "See - I'm capable of deductive reasoning as well as able to fly."

"I don't think I've ever seen so many flowers in one place," Temp said quietly as they walked. "I didn't even realise that places like this were possible on a star ship! Do you think the waterfall is real or holographic?" she asked.

"I don't know. The flowers are real and I think the grass is real," he said as he stopped and bent down to feel. "Feels real to me. Of course the way holograms are, how would I know if it wasn't?" he asked as he took her hand once again. "And since the ship has hydroponics bays I'm going to guess that the waterfall is real." Just then, they rounded a bend in the path and before them was the grotto - a small waterfall cascading into a pool, and behind the waterfall an alcove with a bench.

Temperance gasped with surprise at the sight. "Oh wow," she breathed softly. "I am surprised there is no one else here, goodness, this is so amazing I would have expected there to always be crowds around." She looked up at him and smiled. "This is definitely a welcome break from work, thank you."

"You're welcome but I didn't know it would be this nice," he said as they walked into the little alcove behind the waterfall. "Would you like to stop and rest a bit?"

She nodded, sinking down onto the bench seat next to him. "This would be a great place to bring a picnic one day," she said softly, resting her head against his shoulder. It's almost like the rest of the ship doesn't exist out there, it's incredible."

"I think a picnic would be fun one day. And this place is beautiful," he said. "But right now I'm looking at the most beautiful scenery in this arboretum..." he added as he looked directly at her.

Temp could feel the colour creeping up in her cheeks under his steady gaze. "There are plenty of things out there that are more beautiful..."

"Not from where I'm sitting there isn't..."

She bit her bottom lip nervously, reaching up to tuck a curl that had strayed from her pony tail back behind her ear. She looked up at him, her eyes meeting his, not unable to find any words to reply. "Roberto..." she finally whispered.

He held her gaze, feeling almost lost in her blue eyes. Then, his voice not much above a whisper, he asked the question he had wanted to ask her last night as they danced... "May I kiss you?"

She nodded slightly, not trusting herself to speak in any way.

Leaning in, he kissed her gently, savoring the moment, realizing that he was doing something that before he had thought he was incapable of - he was falling for her.

When the kiss ended, he realized that she had quite literally taken his breath away. He brushed a stray strand of hair back from her forehead while he attempted to regain the ability to speak again. "I've wanted to do that since I first saw you," he finally managed to say.

Temperance opened her eyes as he pulled away and exhaled slowly, not even really aware she had been holding her breath. "You needn't have waited so long," she finally replied quietly. Reaching up, she placed her hand at the back of his neck, her fingers curling in his hair as she pulled his head in closer again, kissing him again.

As they kissed again, he thought about what she had asked. Why HAD he waited? He had wanted to kiss her while they danced, but somehow he knew that the time had not been right. So, when their lips parted the second time, he answered her as honestly as he knew how.

"I wanted to kiss you when we danced last night..." He said, speaking slowly and carefully. "But I knew that the time was not right. I knew if I kissed you last night it would lead to something that neither of us was ready for - and I think you knew that too. I hope you weren't offended by that."

She sighed softly and shook her head slightly. "You're right," she said quietly. Temperance rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes, listening to the sound of the water. There were a million thoughts suddenly racing in her mind, and the only ones she could formulate into coherent concepts were not thoughts for this time or place.

For a long time, they sat there, neither one saying anything, just listening to the sound of the falls. He was content to hold her, her head resting on his shoulder. He had no way of knowing where this was leading but he DID know one thing for sure: Wherever it was leading, as long as she was there as well, he would be more than willing to go.

"You do realise how insane this is, don't you?" she asked quietly. "How completely and utterly insane this whole situation is?" She sat up and looked directly at him.

"Insane?" he asked. "Why do you say that?"

"It's been... literally... 24 hours!"

"Yes it has," he grinned. "And what a 24 hours it has been!" He knew what she was getting at, and he tried to inject a bit of levity into it, but he knew deep down that she was serious. "I know it's only been a day but...everything has to start somewhere, doesn't it?" He looked away for a moment, unsure of what to say. There were so many thoughts running through his mind and he didn't know which of them to speak first. Finally, he decided that he had to come right out and ask. So, turning his attention back to her, he took her hand in his. "Do you think this is wrong?"

She interlaced her fingers with his and smiled at him, shaking her head slightly. "Not wrong... just... a little insane. When I was little, there was a story I used to read about a princess locked in a tower and one day the handsome prince rode up on his white horse, rescued her, and with one kiss they fell in love and lived happily ever after. My mother told me it was just a fairy tale and in real life there was no such thing as princes on white horses or happily ever after, and definitely no such thing as falling in love with one kiss." Temperance shrugged slightly. "Who knows, maybe unicorns might be real as well!"

Roberto nodded slowly as he listened to her. When she finished, he squeezed her hand lightly. "I'd like to think that there is happiness ever after because if there's not, then what do we have to look forward to? Sweetheart, I understand why you may question what's happened. But I also know that out here in deep space, sometimes things happen faster than they would normally. Out here we never know from one day to the next what the future holds. Because of that I feel like when we find happiness, we should grab onto it with both hands and hold it as securely as we know how." He grinned slightly. "Am I making any sense?"

"It makes sense, it just... well... it's ok..." she sighed softly. "I should think about heading back to the office soon," she said quietly. "As much as I would love to just stay here with you, well, unlike you flyboys, some of us still have work to do, even if we're docked." She smiled, hoping he knew she was only teasing.

"I know," he said with a smile. "You have to actually work for the credits they pay you while we get to go out and have all the fun. And this was only supposed to be a short break for you anyway. I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I have." He stood up and offered his hand to help her to her feet.

Taking his hands she stood up and pulled her jacket down to straighten it. “I have, thank you, it’s been a very welcome diversion.”

When she stood, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "Just one more hug before you have to join the workforce again?" he asked.

She sighed with contentment as his arms wrapped around her, holding her closely. After a moment she pulled away a little, reaching up onto her tip toes, her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him down toward her. “You’re not getting away that easily,” she whispered softly. “Kiss me...”

"Who am I to refuse the request of the Chief Strategic Operations Officer?" he asked as their lips met.

OFF:

Lieutenant Roberto "Stallion" del Palo
Flight Leader/Fighter Pilot
USS Wellington

Lieutenant Temperance Zachary
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Wellington