A Favor or Two

Posted on Mon Jun 1st, 2015 @ 3:26am by Lieutenant Commander Robin Swift M.D., PhD & Lieutenant Commander Nicolao

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Ha’Dara - The Promenade

* * * Ha’Dara - The Promenade * * *

Nico settled in at the back corner booth facing the door of the Bajoran restaurant. He had called Robin, asking him to meet here, mainly because Nico had some things he wanted to discuss and didn’t want Dru overhearing. As he waited, his visit to Mamu replayed in his thoughts, along with that tune she’d been humming. The box she gave him was safely locked away for now, still unopened. He ordered some tea and turned once more to watch the door.

Robin had never been in Ha’Dara before, which was odd as he really enjoyed trying new foods. He was curious as to why Nico wanted to meet him here, but was also excited at the opportunity to try some of the menu items.

He was led to NIco’s booth and slid in across from him. He looked around, enjoying the atmosphere of the restaurant and the decorations they had on the walls. “I can’t believe I’ve never been here,” he said. “This is kind of exciting!”

‘It’s good but can be on the spicy side. Fair warning.” He poured some tea from the pot into an empty cup for Robin. “Try this.”

Robin lifted the cup and sniffed at it, an aroma of tea he’d not encountered before. After a sip, and allowing the flavors to saturate his taste buds, he smiled. “Wow.” He took another sip and enjoyed it again. “Wow! That is--what is that? It’s fantastic.”

“Jumja tea, which explains the sweetness. Same stuff you buy on a stick out on the promenade.” Nico had a sip and smiled. “I thought you might like this one. and thanks for meeting me here. I wanted to talk to you about a few things….well something...I don’t want Dru overhearing.”

Robin’s face went blank. “Oh. No dinner then?” He shrugged. “I can eat after, no biggie. So what’s going on?”

Nico had to laugh at the expression. “Both.” He signaled a waiter and gave an order in rapid Bajoran then turned back to Robin. “I ordered a platter with a lot of different things so you can try them. But beware the hesperat souffle. Tiny bites unless you want to breathe fire.”

“Hmm, I’ll keep that in mind. So, what is so important that Dru can’t know about it? I thought all of the cloak and dagger stuff was over now.”

“Regarding the admiral? It is, though you have to understand that with me, cloak-and-dagger may never be over.” Nico looked apologetic. I have warned her. But this is something a little more personal.” He stopped as a large platter of food appeared before them and he pointed out the hesperat at the center.

Robin wasted no time digging into the mound and was happy to have done so. “Okay, so spill it,” he said with a mouthful.

“Given all the craziness and stress of late, I thought it might be good to take a few days, go down to the planet, and unwind. I want to take Dru, for post combat de-stressing if nothing else. This has been a tough time for her, even if she doesn’t say so. You know her well enough to know that she wouldn’t complain about it.” Nico reached out to snag a small round red fruit and popped it into his mouth.

“Is she having more problems? Nightmares or something?” Robin asked. He’d stopped eating now concerned with Dru’s welfare.

“No, but spending a few days in the psych ward when you don’t have to, watching what she did on that video, dealing with me through all this...it’s time she relaxed and had a little fun without looking over her shoulder, you know?” He met Robin’s gaze and shrugged. “Being as close as she is, everything I felt, she did too.”

The counselor nodded. “How long? I can find a replacement for her position easily, or even take over her duties for a while on my own.”

“Three days? Is that too many? I don’t want you or the rest to be too inconvenienced.”

Robin couldn’t help but smirk a bit. “I don’t think it will be too difficult to handle. Take five days. Have a good time. Let our girl relax and get all of this out of her head. But that also means you have to try and forget about it as well, otherwise she’ll just read it from you and dredge it all back up again.”

Nico nodded. “I know. That’s part of it too, for me. I’m glad the admiral was exposed, but this has all opened up some things I couldn’t remember and I need to make some sense of them. But first, a change of scene to get away from it all. Thank you.” Nico smiled finally. “And I have a favor to ask.”

“That wasn’t a favor?” Robin laughed as he bit into a forkful of some noodles.

“For her, yes. This is for me.” He paused, having another sip of tea before continuing. “If I need you for some reason...would you be willing to come down to the planet? Not to stay of course, but to drop in, just in case?”

“I’m your counselor, Nico, of course I would. Are you expecting to need me? I’d think that would kind of take away from the ‘alone time’ you two would be having.”

Nico’s expression had shifted back to its usual unreadable one. “Likely not but with everything that has come up...I don’t know. I promise I won’t call unless it’s an emergency.”

“Sounds good to me,” Robin replied, now judging the food left on the plate for his next attempt. “But you guys should just forget about us up here and have some fun.”

“That I intend to do, Robin, perhaps more than you want to know.” Nico laughed softly and slid out of the booth. “Save room for dessert, it’s been ordered. I’m going to go tell Dru to start packing.”

He didn’t have time for a send off so he shrugged and went back for another load-up of food. “I didn’t really need to hear that,” Robin said to himself. “More than you want to know,” he said in a mocking voice and rolling his eyes. “Bleh.”

Nico’s laughter slipped into his thoughts. See you soon.

******************
Nicolao
Getting Away From It All

&

Lt. Cmdr. Robin Swift
Quickly Losing His Appetite