Honesty

Posted on Sun Apr 3rd, 2016 @ 9:42pm by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Captain Patrick O'Connor

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Taking Chances
Location: USS Bonne Chance, Deck Five, Captain O'Conner's Quarters
Timeline: 2265
Tags: Patrick,1stlove

The sultry scientist was exhausted... the day had been long and hard, and she had driven herself harder than usual. All that she really wanted was her Captain... but the little voice was still giving her pause, and she couldn't fathom why. He had been busy all over the ship today, but so had she... she was just making something out of nothing. She was trying to see trouble where there was none. There was nothing wrong, she was just being foolish.

Arriving at his quarters she pressed the door chime, then waited for him to open it.

For what seemed like an eternity she waited, then rang the chime again, and still nothing. Then as she turned away from the door, deciding that he wasn't in, Patrick came around the corner, dressed in gym clothes, a towel around his neck, sweat glistening off his toned physique. His head was down, as if he was contemplating something. He looked up and saw her standing at his door, and he smiled as he slowly approached, and she smiled back.

See? Nothing wrong. Just being foolish.

"Hello, My Captain," she said coyly. Her gaze wandered across his chest and she smiled dreamily. "May I have permission to come aboard?"

"Certainly," he said in an even tone as he kissed her softly on the cheek. The door to his quarters opened and he allowed her to enter first; the chivalric thing to do, but it had other advantages as well. The door closed behind him and he walked into the bathroom to activate the sonic shower. He looked over to her and commented, "I need to bathe, but you are welcome to join me if you so desire, or you can at least be in here and maybe we can talk a bit."

There is an intuitive voice in every woman that reacts to nuances... subtle cues that set off her intuition and give her signals. Different women possess different levels of such instincts, as well as the ability to interpret what those signals mean. Charybdis was reasonably in tune with her intuition, though she was most certainly in uncharted waters in regards to her relationship, as she had never known one such as she had now.

But her intuition was very definitely screaming at her that something was very, very wrong.

Very much did she want to join him in the shower, and reassure herself that he just had a lot on his mind by burying herself in the sensations of the flesh. But she was worried, and she wasn't certain that it was the best possible choice. Slowly she followed him into the bathroom and leaned her rear against the sink. Her heart was in her throat, but she managed to keep her voice calm.

"Patrick? Is everything... all right?" Nothing wrong. Just being foolish. He will smile and laugh and it will be fine, just watch.

He finished undressing as she spoke to him. He heard her plea and recognized that tone of voice that women used universally, whenever they fear the worst and want reassurance... but he was uncertain of exactly how to answer the question. Yes, something was wrong, but no, he wasn't going to go with the logical course of action, despite all of his Starfleet training. He was going to do the most illogical thing... he was listening to his heart.

He was certain that Spock would tell him that he was allowing his humanity to overwhelm his senses. And to that he would reply that sometimes the logical thing to do isn't the right thing to do... and such was the situation now. As he got into the shower he spoke calmly, "We need to talk, and I want you to be good with that and tell me that you aren't going to freak out on me."

A half dozen potential responses, each of them representing an entirely different emotional response all began yelling at her inside her head like contestants in an open auction, each one making their bid to be heard. Her heart rate stepped up and fear began closing around her heart in an icy grip, but she closed her eyes very slowly, and stopped herself for a moment.

We are going to talk. He wants you to be calm, so You. Will. Be. Calm. You want to know what is wrong and he is going to tell you, so you are getting what you want. So. Be. Calm. You are a Starfleet officer and a Captain's woman, and when he needs you to be calm you will do this thing.

Her eyes opened once more, slowly, and she was composed.

"I can do that. What do we need to talk about?" Her voice was reasonably even... she was trying for flat and unemotional, but at least she came somewhat close. At least she hoped so.

He stood in the shower motionless, only inhaling and exhaling slowly. It was, as his father would put it, time to put up or shut up. "The last couple of days have been near perfect... despite my reputation, I never thought I'd meet a girl quite like you. Beautiful, intelligent, sexy, sophisticated..."

"And I knew going in that two things were always true in any interspecies relationship; we all have issues that need to be adapted to, and we all have secrets that we keep." He was quiet for a moment, then continued. "The last few nights I have been having dreams, but they are too vivid to be real dreams. I believe you have been linking with me telepathically."

Silently he waited in to see if she would respond... and if so, how.

At the beginning of his speech she had smiled... how could she not? But when he got to the punchline she just looked confused. She didn't have telepathy... if anything, she had the opposite of telepathy. Any entry into her mind went straight into a trap, and she had seen firsthand just how effective that was.

But he was her Captain, and there was no reason for him to invent this. It served no purpose, and he had never been anything but honest with her... and even now she could sense it in him. She didn't know what to say... of all of the things in this experience she had not been prepared for, this was certainly outside her imagined realm of possibility.

"I haven't... hurt you... have I?" she asked. It was a moronic question, because if she had he would be incapable of holding this conversation, but of all of the concerns that his statement brought to mind, bizarrely it was the one that was most important to her.

Ready or not, it was time to talk. "No, not at all. I mean, not physically. I have certainly been shown a few things that made me think, though." He paused for a moment as he stepped out of the shower. He walked over to her, putting his hands on either side of her shoulders and leaning in he gave her a soft kiss on the lips, a gesture to keep her calm.

"Something in your dreams gave me pause... I have a serious question to ask you, and I want you to know that I need the truth. Can you do that?"

Those large violet eyes looked up at him and filled with tears. She tried to speak, but nothing came out... so she just nodded slowly. She was working very, very hard not to be terrified, but she felt as though she were standing on an ice lake and she could feel the cracks splintering beneath her feet.

"Tell me the truth. Are you in point of fact... a Romulan?" he was tender with his speech, but quite serious as well.

Crack, went the ice as it shattered beneath her. And the water was very, very cold.

Slowly she nodded, tears rolling down her face. Her life was over and so was her affair, but she could not... she would not lie to him. If it was found out what she was and that he had been close to her, it would destroy his career. It might destroy him if he cared for her the way that she knew that he did, but he had trusted her, believed in her and accepted her. She could not deny the truth, asked so plainly... she had never lied to him, and even at the cost of her own life, she would not do so now.

She hung her head and waited for what would come next.

Slowly and deeply he inhaled, then let out a long slow breath. "You are some sort of spy aren't you?" The question was calm but still direct, just like the engineer he was.

Again, she nodded. She could not bring herself to look at him, and she brought her arms up to hug herself tightly.

Part of her brain was screaming at her to stop, and part of it was screaming at her to explain, but her voice would not work, and she had no idea what she could possibly say. Her heart was frozen, in thousands of little pieces scattered throughout her chest like shrapnel. Somehow her own mind had betrayed her, and her heart had been unable to cover it with a lie. She was doomed, the walking dead, and she shuddered quietly as she wept.

And she had hurt him... that was the worst part of all. With that realization she found her voice.

"I'm sorry, Patrick," she croaked in a whisper.

A soft sigh escaped him, and he quoted Shakespeare, as it seemed apt.

"'When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions. Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.' The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance." He shook his head as he took a step back.

"You know, I feared the worst with those dreams. And the worst has been realized..." He was quiet for a moment as his voice cracked just a touch, as she sobbed gently.

Picking up her chin between his thumb and forefinger, he brought her eyes up to meet his own. "Vulcan, Romulan, free or slave, the heart wants what the heart wants. Though it may mean sacrificing everything, I can't help feeling the way I do about you." He took her in his arms and tightly embraced her.

"We'll figure this out love, I promise." His voice was soft, steady, and sincere.

The grip that she held on herself slowly released, and she slid her arms gingerly out to hold him, as if he were delicate. She held him gently for a few moments as the shock wore off a bit, then her voice returned to her, and she tried to make sense of it all.

"I won't go back, Patrick. I'll never, ever go back. I won't report and I wont betray you... they can't find me out here if I don't tell them where I am, and I won't, not ever. I never meant to hurt you I swear I didn't, and I tried to stay away from you but... I just couldn't. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't."

Pulling back from him slightly she looked him in the eye. "I told you that you defeated me, Earthman." Her smile was small and fearful on her tear-stained face, but it was still there as she made a very small joke... one with quite an element of truth to it.

The woman was vulnerable and terrified, and it was completely understandable to him; a dark secret she had kept hidden for so long was now exposed to him. He clearly understood the gravity of the situation... after all, he had personal experience with this sort of anguish. He had made his choice, and it would have consequences... not only for him, but for her as well.

But he was the captain...no, he was her brave knight in shining armor, and turning his back on her or running away just as it was revealed that she was actually a dragon was not part of his character. He would face this with her, carefully, deliberately and intelligently, and they would be fine no matter what. He was adamant about that point.

"Lassy, it is very important that you listen to me. I might be able to look past this, but I doubt anyone else would. We must keep this quiet. Agreed?"

Silently she began to nod, but then she stopped and placed a hand on his chest.

"I won't... I won't tell anyone, no, but... Patrick, if this comes out you will be ruined." The look in her eyes showed plainly that what she felt and what she was saying were at considerable odds, but she tried to forge ahead anyway. "I have been successful all of these years, but if you found out, then others might, and..."

With a finger to her lips he stopped her midsentence. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, lass. And don't you worry about me. You'd be surprised what I can survive." he said with a broad smile and a full laugh.

A hopeful smile shone from her, and she exhaled with some difficulty, shuddering as she released the tension the situation had created. She reached down to slide back down off his sink counter, only to discover that she had crushed the aluminum edge of the sink with her fingertips. "Oh... ooops."

"Patrick?" she asked as she stepped into him and locked eyes with him. "I never lied to you... ever. I didn't tell you the entire truth, but I never lied... and I never will."

"I love you," she said simply, admitting it to him for the very first time.

He looked down at the sink and then back into her eyes. "Somebody is a bit tense. I have a cure for that." He leaned into her and kissed her passionately, allowing his hands to roam and caress her body as he did so. And just as quickly as the mood had gone from light to heavy with his questions, it had shifted from tense to romantic and a touch erotic. "I think I need to give you a thorough once over," he said playfully.

Giggling, the realization that she was not only going to live, but that even after this he still accepted her settled in. She picked up his muscular form and carried him into his bedroom with a broad and wicked grin. "Oh yes... you know, I am actually hiding five weapons on my person right now. You should search me... very, very thoroughly..."

He made sure that he thoroughly inspected all five of those weapons carefully... repeatedly... and very, very thoroughly.

 

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