New Roommate?

Posted on Sun Jun 7th, 2015 @ 3:56am by Lieutenant Commander Solis & Lieutenant Bajun Julisa

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Solis & Julisa's Quarters

Deep into the drafting of a brief, Julisa was startled out of it by a burst of laughter in the outer office. She sighed, surprised herself by wondering what the joke was and tried to settle back into the brief and the case law surrounding it. Just as she managed that, Siri appeared in her doorway, "Hey you, want some coffee?"

Julisa stared at her assistant as a few different responses went through her head. The one she chose was slightly less bitchy than what she would have chosen six months ago. "No, I want you to get out of my office! And be quiet!"

"Uh-huh." Siri left the doorway and, just a few minutes later, she and someone in the outer office laughed.

Julisa gave up: she closed her research and transfered everything to her home console. Walking past Siri on the way out, she said, "I'll be at home, working."

"Good plan, boss!" Siri called after her.

**
Arriving home, Julisa entered her quarters and promptly tripped over a box in the middle of the living room. "Ow!" She rubbed her knee where she'd landed and glared at the box. If she hadn't been sitting on her ass, she would have kicked it for tripping her. "Damn it, Sol...," she muttered, figuring he was the one who had left it there. Getting used to living with the man was still sometimes a challenge.

Pulling the box closer, she looked at the label on it: PO Nikki Gold.

She tapped her commbadge and spoke, "Lieutenant Solis?"

=^= Solis here =^= His voice sounded more than a little harried over the comm. =^= Oh! Jules! Hi sweetheart. What’s up? =^=

"Hey, are you storing something for a... Nikki Gold, a Petty Officer?"

=^= Storing something? What’s going on over there, Vina? =^=

She turned on the lights in the quarters and her jaw dropped. "I don't know, Sol.... There are a ton of boxes here. Who is Petty Officer Gold? This must be an Ops mistake."

Solis cursing is what came back over the comm. =^= I’ll be home in a few minutes. Solis out. =^=

While she waited, Julisa put the boxes in slightly better order and called Ops about their mistake.

Ops seemed surprised at her call but promised to look into it. A few minutes later, the doors opened and Solis stormed in. It didn’t take a telepath to see that something had him good and riled up. He stopped and looked at the boxes and shook his head. “Oh, for a convenient airlock.”

Feeling Solis' anger was a rare thing for Julisa and it made her pause. "What's up with you, hon?"

“All fu--” he paused and took a deep breath. The legendary rage that most Vulcans had learned to lock away was riding high in Solis at the moment and he knew he needed to be careful. Another deep breath helped, at least a little but he remained standing where he was. “Sit down, Jules.”

"Maybe no." She stayed where she was as she was starting to get the feeling she was about to get irritated.

“All this will be out of here in half an hour. They are coming to remove it and store it.”

"Ops is? I just talked to one of them, but they didn't know anything about this." Julisa put a hand on Solis' arm. "Tell me what's up."

“Careful, I’m a little shaky right now.” He sighed aloud, then moved away from Julisa and once more, was pacing. “When I found you were coming out here, I put in for a transfer. It was denied several times and finally Lev looked into it and discovered an irregularity. Someone had been monkeying in the system and falsified the denials.”

"Someone who intentionally keeping you on DS15? Was it Nikki Gold?" She watched him pace. "Why?"

“Yes, it was her. She…” He frowned, trying to phrase this delicately. “Was an amusement, extremely brief. She started, though, as a rather obsessive fan. At the time, you and I had agreed to..you know...but she was of a different mindset and I put an end to it quickly." He didn’t mention Earl’s extreme concern at the time. “That was the end of it for me but Lev traced the transfer changes to her. He fixed the order and I shipped out. I don’t know what happened to her and I heard nothing since. Until she turned up in Sickbay today.”

"Oh, I recall this. I didn't know her name," she almost laughed, but realized it wasn't yet a great idea to do so. "She's here, in Sickbay? Why is her stuff here?"

“That’s where things get weird.” His anger rose up a notch as he continued. “Earl and I think that she’s up to her old tricks. Her official record shows ….” He hesitated, not liking the storm likely to come. “It shows that I am her husband.”

She canted her head to one side and stared at him. She started to say something but stopped and turned her head the other way. Finally blinking, she asked, "Husband?" A wave of anger hit her - her own. "You married her?! That's why we haven't, yet, isn't it? When were you going to tell me?"

Solis resisted the urge to bolt, go to sickbay and strangle Nikki. Closing his eyes, he spoke in measured tones. “No, I did not. As I said, she was a very brief bit of entertainment and we think she’s been messing around in the system again. I am going to have Norval look into it and see if he can trace it. If not, I’ll have Ray work his magic and scare the life out of her till she confesses. It never happened, I promise you that.”

Taking several long, calm breaths, Julisa walked to the bedroom then came back and took Solis' hand. She read him and nodded. "I didn't think you were lying. She's just a psychotic, obsessed woman? This should strip her of her rank and get her sent back to Earth."

“I’d vote for farther away than that but once we straighten this out, that may likely happen. I think she lost rank over her last incident, given the rank shown in her file now.” He shook his head and growled. “Just don’t let me kill her.” It might have been a joke coming from anyone else at any other time.

"Should I have you put in the brig? 'Cause that's what I'd do with someone else who threatened to kill a fellow Officer." Still holding his hand, she pulled him closer to her. "I don't know what to think right now."

“Me either, to be honest. Even Earl’s concerned and it takes a lot to get to him. He actually screamed when he saw her. Then when I saw the spouse listing in her file, I screamed. We’re keeping her in Sickbay overnight but once she wakes up I intend to talk to her.” Solis held up a hand to stop her protest. “With Earl and Ophelia present just in case.”

"He cares a lot for you, Solis. Earl, I mean." Julisa played with the pips on his uniform. "Be careful talking to this woman." She wanted to keep him from talking to Nikki, but acknowledged trying to stop him would not work. He could be a little bullish; so could she. They were a good match.

“I will, which is another reason I want witnesses to hear, not simply to keep my hands from around her throat. I’ll also be recording. That’s not illegal is it?” He reached up to take her hands, holding them tight.

"Everything and everyone on the Station is recorded, Solis," she kissed him. Her tone changed, becoming almost playful, "You're lucky, you know."

“I’m not feeling very lucky just now,” he commented. “Why did she have to do this? When things are finally settled and I am happy?”

"We could have discovered it as we were applying for our own marriage papers. She could have disappeared, leaving an even worse problem for us. At least she's here, you can confront her and Ray can have the records nullified."

“I hope it’s that simple.” Solis rubbed his temples for a moment. He was still too full of his anger and it was surrounding him like a dark shadow. What he needed was to work it off, punch something till he was ready to drop before he did explode. “I need to get out...do something to settle down before I do something stupid.”

"I'll be here. I came home to work," she stepped away from him. "Do what you need to do."

“Can I throw all this stuff into a recycler somewhere? That would make me feel a whole lot better,” Solis grumped. “Maybe I can recycle her too while I’m at it.” He turned and crossed to the bedroom, stripping off his uniform as he went.

"I thought someone was coming to get this stuff?" She didn't go after him, though watching him strip was a favorite activity.

“They are and sadly, I can’t just ditch it all, much as I’d like to.” He emerged, dressed in shorts and a tank top, his long hair tied back. “I’ll be in the gym for a while. Call if you need me.” He stopped to look down at her. “I will get this settled. Soon.”

She nodded. "I know. Don't break anyone at the gym. Including yourself."

“I’ll try.” He leaned down for a quick kiss, the touch to her lips revealing just how much he was still boiling inside, even though he’d covered it well enough. Without another word, he was out the door.

And Julisa was left in the midst of another woman's mess. Shaking her head, she tried to settle in and work.

******
Lt. Bajun Julisa
Mystified

Lt. Solis
In A Mood Painted Black