Catching Some ZZZ's

Posted on Fri Aug 21st, 2015 @ 7:41pm by Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Vic & Senior Chief Petty Officer Edana

* Civilian Quarters - The Cherry Pit *

It had been a very long night. Edana had gone to Sickbay to check on Six, take Suresh some fresh clothes and shoo him out to go eat. He’d disappeared for all of ten minutes and she suspected his dinner was three cups of coffee. Now, she was meeting with Vic and Darwin and looking forward to sitting down and propping up her feet. She was the first to arrive and so, she shed her shoes, dropped down on the sofa and propped her bare feet on the coffee table. She took a moment to examine her pedicure and, satisfied the hot pink polish could go another day or two, leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

A few minutes later, Darwin entered her quarters and flopped down beside her. "This is insane," he muttered, mimicking her posture and position.

“No shit, honey. Suresh looks like hell, Riley is downright scary according to Nico, and we have a dead slaver I hear?” She turned her head enough to look at him and rested her hand on his thigh. “Did you run over somebody's grandmother?”

"Apparently I fucked over karma at some point, too." He forgot that Karma was one of Seyla's girls - he was referring to the Hindi concept. "I suppose the slaver is 'good' news, as in no need to prosecute, no need to worry about him snaking out of the charges and going back to snatching people for the slave trade."

“That’s what I’m thinking. How did Oz take that news?” She reached up to rub the back of her neck as she asked the question and moaned aloud as she hit a tight spot.

"C'mere," he sat up and directed her to turn around. He started working her muscles with his hands. "Oz took that news in stride. Sometimes, I think she'd rather just phaser the bad guys than turn them over to JAG for prosecution." He felt a knot under her skin and worked it till it loosened. "Funny, though, she gets freaked out about her parents. She's taken the chance to go run off with Li and the Admiral."

“Oh my…” Edana gave a contented sigh. “Might have to keep you.” She was silent as he massaged her neck, then continued. “I can understand that. I’d run off with Li and the Admiral too if my parents were here.” His comment about Oz got a laugh. “Oz and I have a lot in common apparently."

"Perhaps. 'course, I'm not sleeping with her, so I won't make any comparisons."

“And I’m sure Jackson is relieved on that score,” she joked. “So now that your magic fingers have fixed my neck, how’re you doing in all this? Have you slept at all?”

"Here and there, yeah. That might be all I get for a few days, though. With Riley still in the Brig, under Psychwatch, and one more slaver on the loose, plus this investigation into the Iconian slab, I'm tapped. Oz just told me that Madhava has been given a few days' leave, so now I need to be watching out for her, too."

“Did she include plans on how to clone you?” Edana’s tone was sharp. “Seriously Dar...though two of you……” She grinned. “I can help...though not with Reva. She doesn’t like me very much, but no surprise there. It’s an Orion thing.” She suspected it might be a Darwin thing too, but didn’t say so.

"Hmm. Sort of a 'kill the competition' type of thing? As a fellow Orion, maybe you trigger it more than, say, Six does," he mused. He could be thick at times. "Gilroy's here, too. He's going to take point on the Iconian slab stuff. I have a team working on the slaver." He shrugged. "It'll be fine."

“Let’s hope so. I --” She stopped as the doors opened once more.

Vic entered and flopped down in the chair by the sofa, looking decidedly unhappy. “Sorry for the delay, Ed. How’s it going Darwin?”

"Okay," Darwin nodded, a touch dismayed Vic was there. His massage of Ed's neck had had him thinking of other massages. "You look... Did you see Six?"

Vic nodded. “I did. Believe it or not, Suresh called me to see if I wanted to come by, and left us alone to talk. I’m not sure whether to think that was unbelievably nice of him or worried.”

“Why wouldn’t he?” Edana asked. “She’s in a hospital bed.”

“And looks like hell, though better than I expected,” Vic added. He didn’t mention his conversation with Dae the day before. “She’s awake and talking at least. How’s Riley?”

"Still sedated and in the Psychwatch pod. Padded cell." Darwin frowned and idly pulled lightly at a hank of Ed's hair. "I was told she'll be released sometime tomorrow. Um, Six, that is. Bajun Julisa is the prosecutor on Riley's case, so we'll see where that goes."

Vic nodded. “I saw Nico’s report when it came in and all I could say was...’damn’. Someone went to a lot of trouble and picked too nice a guy to screw over.” He grumbled and shook his head. “Jackson said that Reva did come in and he passed my message along to her. She’s another loose end in all this.”

"No kidding. Chief Jenkins gave her three day's leave, thinking she'd need it to handle the fallout from Riley and Six. Far as I know, she hasn't even visited Six yet." Darwin sounded a little bitter.

“Umm yeah. She was at the Nexus last night with Niro and from what I heard, pretty cozy.”

Edana nodded. “They’d been together pretty constantly. Remember the other night in Saturnalia, Dar?”

Darwin realized that bothered him a lot more than he thought it would."Yeah. What's his angle with her? Just having fun or...? Do we know?"

“No idea,” Vic answered, “but something about it is off. Just an impression I get but I’ve not been around them together much. I can be if you want. She and Six and I are pretty tight.”

"Eh. Let's keep that in mind, but I'm going to corner her tomorrow and remind her what happens when she's misbehaving," Darwin said.

“Wait, you said she hasn’t visited Six yet?” Vic asked. “Don’t you think that’s a little strange?”

"Yeah," Darwin nodded. "If they're such good friends.... But then, it is Reva's boyfriend who attacked Six. How's that for awkward?" He was holding the knowledge that Reva had been the trigger close; it wasn't something Reva, or anyone outside the investigation, needed to know.

“Extremely,” Edana agreed. “Good luck with your lecture, Darwin.”

Vic grumbled once more. “What both of those girls need is to be stranded on an island somewhere away from Niro and Suresh until they come to their senses.” He rubbed his eyes and frowned.

"Maybe... Could we ship 'em off with the colony folks? I've met the CO, she's a bit no nonsense and wouldn't put up with two civilians hanging around." Darwin liked this idea; for one thing, it'd take Reva out of his jurisdiction.

“And hopefully make Six get over Suresh?” Edana shot Vic a pointed look. “Good luck there.” She softened however, as she continued. “Sorry, Vic, honey. I know this is tough, but you’ve been through worse. Well, worse but it wasn’t personal. For once I’m glad I’m not you. What’s your next course of action?”

Vic shrugged. “Nothing till she is home. Then I suppose Gil will want a statement, and I’ll pull her into Intel for the same and to start working on getting her back into fighting form.”

Darwin eyed Vic and nodded. "Uh-huh. According to Bryce's description of the attack, there was no way she could have avoided it." He moved Edana so he could shift forward on the couch. "If you two don't mind, I'm going to catch some shut-eye before something else happens."

Vic nodded. “I’d say that’s good advice for all of us.” He smiled and rose. “I’ll leave you two to it. I’m off tonight so I may have something to pass along tomorrow.” He gave them a sloppy salute, then turned and departed.

Edana looked over at Darwin. “You ever want to knock some people’s heads together?”

"Yes. Whose heads are you thinking of?"

“Reva’s for one. I despise Niro and I don’t think any good can come of this. And I am at a loss where Vic is concerned. There’s several who’d give their right arm to go out with that man.” She sighed and stood, holding out her hand for Darwin. “Stay here?”

"I was hoping you'd ask." He took her hand and led her to the bedroom. "But... One condition. No oven mitts this time, I promise," he grinned, "just this: let's sleep first."

“You better believe it. It’s been so long I can’t remember when I slept last. I think it was at your place..but….I wouldn’t swear to it.” They reached the bed and she let go of Darwin and stripped down. “That pillow looks almost as good as you.”

"Better," he said, following her lead. In minutes, they were both out.

***********

SCPO Edana
Wanting To Bust Some Heads

Lt. Michael Darwin
Wishing For a Cave

Vic
Frustrated