Celine Woes

Posted on Fri Jan 8th, 2016 @ 12:35am by Commander Louie Rousseau & Helena Marinos & Lieutenant Commander Cyrus Thorn

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Lady Ella's Jazz Club / Java

* Lady Ella’s Jazz Club *

The jazz combo was taking a break and Helena was relaxing backstage. She reached for the water with lemon she kept at hand to keep her throat clear and found it empty. It seemed a trip to the bar was in order. As she waited for her water, she turned to look out over the crowd. Her attention eventually settled on a table in the corner and a wave of surprise hit her. It was Cy’s friend Louie, Commander Rousseau. He was alone, which was unusual. He rarely ever showed here without Cy. It was their favorite hangout.

Her drink arrived and she thanked the bartender, then started towards Louie’s table. She reached it and greeted Louie. It took him several seconds to respond, or even realize she was there. Finally he looked up. He looked like he’d seen a ghost and his gaunt expression and red eyes worried her.

“Louie? Are you okay?”

He watched her, seeming to deliberate the question, then finally nodded. “Sure.” The word was a little slurred.

Now she knew something was off. She reached out to pat his hand. “Stay for the next set? Promise?”

He nodded slowly. “Sure,” he said again and gave her the faintest smile.

“Good. I’ll be back after it’s over.”

She hurried backstage once more and finding the comm panel, opened a channel to Cyrus. “Hey Cy, it’s me. I’m at Ella’s and Louie’s here. Something’s wrong though and I think you might want to come check on him. Gotta run, second set is starting. Smooches.”

She closed the channel after leaving the message and hurried onstage.

* * *

Partway into Helena’s second set, Cyrus strolled into the Ella’s and paused to acclimate to the dim interior. He asked the hostess to take him to Louie’s table then followed her through the tables to it. He realized as they approached that he could have just waited a moment and sought out the table with a lone male sitting at it. Clapping Louie on the shoulder and drawing near so he could whisper near Louie’s ear, Cyrus said, “Louie! What’s with this, old man? Coming down here on your own - I might start to think you’re going to hit on my girl.” He took a seat.

“Lucky man you are,” Louie mumbled, the words somewhat more slurred than they had been earlier. He looked down into his empty glass and set it aside. “Whassup?”

Sitting back, surprised, Cyrus rethought his approach. “Maybe we should head back to your place and ease up on the drinks?”

“Can’t. Hel made me promise I’d stay for the set and she would be back after it was...over.” He studied Cy for a moment until his face came into clear focus. “Ohhhh. She wanted to be sure I’d stay put till you got here...that it?”

“Hey, you’re bright! Let’s go, Lou, I don’t think it’s appropriate to sit here and chat while Helena is singing,” Cyrus stood again and held out a hand for Louie to take.

“Alright but if she gets mad that I left, it’s your ass, Cy.” He laughed briefly as he took his friend's hand and stood. He waved to Helena, then took a moment to regain his balance. “Okay, I’m ready. Lead on MacDuff.”

“She can have my ass, any time she wants,” Cyrus said, helping his friend balance as they left Ella’s and walked along the promenade. “What prompted this, Louie?”

“Long...story,” Louie managed to say. “Well, not really, just crazy as hell.” He was moving carefully so as not to trip and take them both down. Suddenly he sniffed the air, smelling coffee. “There...gotta sit unless you’ll make coffee at home?”

“There is good,” Cyrus helped him hobble to Java, where he dumped him into a seat then went to get him a cup of coffee. Back at the table with him, he asked, “Spill it, Louie, we have the time, long story or not.”

Instead of picking up the mug, Louie leaned down to sip from it, not trusting his coordination. “Yum. Good stuff.” Then he groped for his pocket, managed to get his hand into it and pulled out a padd, which he placed before Cyrus. It showed Celine’s face. “Look at that...whatcha think?’

Inwardly, Cyrus cringed. It wasn’t the anniversary of his marriage to Celine, nor was it the anniversary of Celine’s death, so what was this? “She’s beautiful, Louie. Just like every time you’ve shown me her picture. Why are you rubbing salt in this wound?”

“Because she,” he poked the padd, “Is not Celine. Not my Celine. She walked into the Academy today with her class for a field trip. She is a new teacher here. They came into my class to watch and it messed me up so bad I dismissed class and left.” He leaned in to take another sip of the coffee. “I am not crazy either. Read her file. It’s there.”

“What’s there?” Cyrus hadn’t followed that stream of words.

“That face belongs to a new teacher at the school here.” Louie spoke slowly, hoping he made more sense this time. “Her class is the one that visited the Academy today and chose my class to visit. I was teaching and she walked in.”

“But her name is also Celine? She looks like her and has her name?” Cyrus’ brow crinkled as he peered at Louie.

“Now yer gettin’ it.” Thanks to the alcohol, Louie’s bayou accent was returning. “I had her come to my office and she said her name is Celine Valois. Born and raised in Beta Ceph--Beta somethin’. She freaked a little when she saw the wedding photo.”

“Beta Cephei system?” He nodded. “It’s understandable why she might freak out. This is strange. Is she a clone? She can’t be Celine...? Can she?”

“She had no idea who I was and at first thought I’d been stalking her. Till I showed her the news article of our return to Earth. Now? She’s just freaked out wanting to know why she looks exactly like my dead wife and has the same name.” Louie dropped his head into his hands and muttered. “I wanna know too. Gonna find out. She’s gonna talk to her parents and see what they know and we’re gettin’ to the bottom of this. But damn...this is destiny running back over me or somethin’.”

“It’s the name that trips me up. Human genetics have only so many variables; eventually the gene pool is going to recreate the same facial features in the same order as before. Hell, there’s that theory that everyone has an exact twin somewhere in the universe.” Cyrus was grasping at straws to explain what his friend was presenting. “That’s all well and good, but her name?” He hoped Louie wasn’t falling asleep with his head down like that - if so, he’d be a bitch to get back to his quarters.

“The bitch of it is that for a few? I felt like time had folded back, that Celine was back and I can’t go there. That’s askin’ for trouble. So I decided bein’ numb was better.”

Cyrus could think of other ways to get numb, but to each their own. “We’ll go by Piper on the way home. Right now, I’m not sure you could lie down and try for sleep. At least not safely. Is she married?”

Louie shook his head. “No, why?” He lifted his head and met Cy’s gaze. “Saw that in her file too.”

“Just curious. Now I want to go look her up,” he replied. He was also thinking that Louie could, if he could handle it, court the woman and maybe...? who knew. It was one option.

Louie’s eyes narrowed. “I know that look. I don’t...I can’t deal with this, Cy. Get me to Piper. Maybe I can talk that lovely lady at the front desk into knocking me out for a day or two? Worth a shot.”

“I’ll walk you to Piper, Lou,” Cyrus stood and picked up Louie’s coffee. “I’ll even carry this with us so you can have it in Sickbay. Ready?”

“Yeah.” Louie got slowly to his feet. “I told Alan I’m takin’ tomorrow off. Maybe by the time I get back I’ll have my head a little straighter. Let’s go.”

***************
Helena Marinos
Mother Hen

Lt. Commander Louie Rousseau
Comfortably Numb

Lt. Commander Cyrus Thorne
Confused Voice of Reason?