Symbol of Love

Posted on Wed May 13th, 2015 @ 5:37am by Admiral Ricky Wegener & El'Shar Blackhorse

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Wegener's Quarters
Timeline: Current

Entering his quarters, Rick felt like steamrolled shit. He’d been up for quite some time going over the information that he and Lucius had for their case, plotting out who they could contact for assistance, if needed, and just ranting about how asinine the whole ordeal was. He didn’t even make it to the bedroom—he just flopped onto the couch and kicked off his shoes. He let out a long sigh and rested his head on the back of the couch as he closed his eyes.

“Rick?”

His eyes popped open and he slowly raised his head to see El’Shar entering the living room in a light blue silk gown. “Hey, love. Sorry if I woke you.”

She slid next to him on the couch and lay her head on his shoulder. “I was awake working on some needlepoint. I couldn’t sleep.”

Kissing the top of her head he had to ask, “Something bothering you?”

Placing a hand on his chest she replied. “Just worried about you. I don’t want this to ruin your career, especially for something we know isn’t true.”

He grunted. “Don’t you worry about me. I may be an old dog but I’m constantly coming up with new tricks. Besides, with the people Lucius and I know we could get to the bottom of this, with truthful results, pretty quickly. We just need to figure out who would be best to contact.”

She smiled. “You always seem to have something up your sleeve. That’s one of the things I like about you—you always have a little fight left in you somewhere.”

He hugged her gently and met her lips with his. “Always. Especially for those I care for.”

She put her head back on his shoulder and began stroking his arm. “Listen, Rick,” she started, “I don’t want to jinx anything, but—“

“But what if they happen to win?”

“Yes, but not just that. What would you want to do after? Starfleet has been your home for, well, for many lifetimes. It’s hard to just stop doing something you’ve done, being someone you’ve been, and fall into doing something else.”

With a raise of his eyebrows he inhaled deeply and thought about it a moment. “Well, this may be hard to believe, but I still own my family’s property in Bremen back on Earth. It’s quite large and we would be very comfortable there.”

She laughed playfully.

“What?” he asked, turning his head around to see what was so funny.

“You said ‘we’. I kinda’ like hearing that.”

“Ha! There’s no one else I’d rather spend time with than you,” he replied, then his tone turned serious. “El, have you…have you ever given any thought to us? Our future?”

Inwardly she started bouncing off the walls and found it hard to contain excitement but replied coolly. “I have. On occasion.”
He chuckled knowing otherwise. “On occasion, huh? And what did this occasional thinking have to say?”

She sat up now and took his hand in hers. “In all honesty I’ve given thought to everything from living together for however long our relationship lasts to marriage,” she paused then finally added, “even kids.”

“Kids, huh?” he said, not missing a beat. “I can’t even begin to imagine how a Human/Vulcan/El-Aurian child would be.” He laughed.

The two went quiet as they considered what their futures would be like together if Starfleet for Rick was no longer an option.

He finally stood and walked to the bedroom.

“Rick? Did I say something wrong?” she asked as she stood to follow him.

He returned with a smile on his face. “No, sweetie. Not at all. I just needed to get something from the bedroom.” He took her hand and led her back to the couch.

As she sat, he knelt in front of her and kissed her hands. “El-Shar, since I met you so long ago I’ve been filled with so much happiness, something I haven’t felt in decades. Everything you do—and I mean everything, from your laugh and smile, to the way you unconsciously twirl your hair while you’re thinking, how down-to-earth you are, and especially how you love your heritage so much and keep that part of you alive…it all makes me love you just so much more. I would feel empty without you no matter if we’re on a big estate in Germany, here on this station or in a small cabin out in the woods.”

He produced the item he had retrieved from the bedroom. “I had this sent to me two months after we met,” he said, opening a box to show a gold ring with two pear-cut sapphires on each side of a round cut diamond. There were smaller diamonds going halfway down the sides coming from the sapphires. “It belonged to my mother,” he said as he pulled it from the box and held it up to her. “My race doesn’t require a symbol such as this but when my parents arrived on Earth and finally had a bit of money, Dad wanted to surprise her with a fitting gift for their 100th anniversary, so he got her this. I remember him giving it to her and how happy it made her to have something so lovely.”
He stopped for a moment, having some difficulty getting to the next part. “She died about a hundred years ago and, well, Dad always said that she wanted me to have it to give to the love of my life.” He looked up and saw El’s face. It looked the same as his mother’s had so long ago. “That person is you, El-Shar Blackhorse. And I give this to you in hopes that you would make me as happy as my parents did each other. I want you to be my wife.”

Despite having lived with her for this long, it still struck him as a bit strange to see such emotion from a Vulcan, no matter that she was part Human. Most hybrids of her kind tended to lean closer to their Vulcan side as opposed to their human, but her upbringing had a bigger hand in that, and it was just another thing that he loved about her. She was truly unique in her own right.

Her hand covered her mouth as her eyes were watering with tears of joy about to break free. Behind her hand was a smile that seemed to go from ear to ear. She took the ring, held it to her chest a moment, and then slid it on her finger.

“I want nothing more than to be your wife! And I want you to be my husband.” She leaned down to kiss him. When she pulled back she wiped a tear that had escaped and looked into his eyes. “I love you, Rick.”

“And I love you, El-Shar.”

Standing to join her on the couch she stood allowing him to sit and then sat between his legs, allowing her to lean against his chest. With his arms around her he held up her left hand. “It looks beautiful on you.”

With a small chuckle she asked, “Do you think everyone will think it a bit weird that you proposed to me during a case that could see you locked up or drummed out of the fleet?”

Kissing her head again he answered, “Love knows no bounds. And neither hell nor high water could keep me from being with you. That’s a promise.”

She pressed his hand to her chest and lay back against him, closing her eyes. She felt so good being close to him.

It was almost ten minutes before either of them stirred. “You do realize,” she said, “that I have nothing on under this robe.”

She felt a twitch in the small of her back and smiled at having gotten the appropriate response.

“I didn’t want to press,” he said. “I figured I had used up my daily dose of good luck with you saying yes.”

She sat up and untied the front of the robe. “Who said anything about this being for you?” she said with a wicked smile.

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Admiral Ricky Wegener
One Lucky S.O.B.

&

Captain El-Shar Blackhorse (ret.)
Affianced and Amorous