Housewarming

Posted on Wed Jan 20th, 2016 @ 2:32pm by Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Ensign Reva Madhava
Edited on on Sun Jan 24th, 2016 @ 2:03am

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Riley's Quarters

As Darwin had guessed while he was waiting with Suresh, Reva and Six had made a short detour after visiting Niro. Reva’s detour lasted longer than Six’s - she had ordered food, Riley’s favorite dinner and dessert and waited for it to be ready before heading home with it. ‘Home’, in this case, was Riley’s place. She had checked his location while waiting for the food and realized that soon his quarters would be ‘home’ for both of them.

But for now, she still felt the need to ring the doorbell when she came to his door. These were his quarters, alone, not hers. She pressed the button and waited.

The doors opened and Riley stood there, wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts. He, apparently, was in for the night. Seeing Reva, his face lit up in an instant.

“You’re out! Get in here!” He took the containers from her as she entered, carried them over to the dining table, then returned to sweep her up in his arms. “Welcome home.”

She squealed happily and kissed him. “I like this kind of homecoming,” she laughed. “Are you okay?”

“Umm...yeah? Am I not supposed to be?” He snickered then. “Well, on the way home I did see Commanders Leroy and Kh’ali smooching in the turbolift and lived to tell about it. Otherwise, I’m good.”

“Leroy and Kh’ali? Huh. I don’t understand why a ... nevermind,” she shook her head. She’d been about to say that she didn’t understand falling in love with a Klingon, but then, who was she to judge? “I brought your favorite, plus dessert.”

“Awesome.” He set her back on her feet and rested his hands on her shoulders. “But first things first. Suresh called me a little while ago, concerned because Six had been gone from sickbay for over an hour and wasn’t home yet. He was curious as to whether you were here. He was getting worried. I can understand that.” He looked her up and down and his brow furrowed. “Did you really?”

She nodded. “We did. I wanted to say a few final words to him and then Six scared him. It was great to see him get panicked.”

“That was dangerous Reva. You know he could get in your head in an instant. We’ve seen what he likes to do in there.” Riley sighed and brushed back that lock of hair that always fell over his forehead. It immediately dropped back in place. “Don’t take this the wrong way but I don’t want you near him ever again.”

Watching him, she felt her love for him well up. She reached up to put her fingers through his hair, lightly twisting that errant lock of hair. “I won’t be, unless I have to testify. It’s all good. Solis took away Niro’s tampering.”

“He told me that everything was fine, yes.” He grinned as she played with his hair. “I cannot wait till he is off this station for good. I’d be happy to push him out an airlock and save Ray all the trouble of a trial.”

“Let’s leave things like that to Robart or someone else who has a reason to hate Niro.” She gently pressed against him then stepped back. “Do you mind if I shower and change before we eat?”

“Not at all. I was just catching up on a few new things that came in, nothing major. You need some help?”

Her grin was sly and she nodded, “Always.” Reva then dashed to his bathroom, Riley in close pursuit.

* Later *

Riley sat up and reached for the bottle of water beside the bed. He took a long drink, then passed it to Reva. “Tell me what happened in the brig.”

“First: how often do you talk to Suresh? Six thinks you talk to him more often than we know.” She drank from the bottle then rolled over to lean into Riley’s side and look at him.

“Now and then,” Riley admitted. “I like the man, the real man that is, not the man everyone thinks he is. He had every reason to hate me after what I did to Six and he didn’t. Besides, as close as you and Six are, being friends with Suresh is inevitable.”

"I see," Reva said. "So much has happened since that incident with Six, it's easy to forget about it." She kissed his chest. "As for the brig, we just went there and had a few words with Niro. I called him pitiful. He's not long for this Station."

“Let’s hope he isn’t. I’ve never despised anyone as I do him, and that’s saying something. Did voicing your feelings satisfy you?” he asked.

"No." She reached over and gently touched his armband. "You're the only one who satisfies me."

“I’m not thrilled at you being that close to him but I do understand why you wanted to go there. A bit of closure? And now I sound like Raj.” He laughed softly.

“We see Raj enough, it isn’t surprising you would pick up some of his platitudes.” She sighed and shifted slightly. “We weren’t that close, anyway - the force field was up the entire time, so he couldn’t touch us. I didn’t go to see him because he had left some trigger in my head. Even when I left Sickbay earlier, before Solis treated me, I went to see Robart, not Niro.”

Riley nodded. “That makes sense. I’m glad Six frightened him. It’s about time the tables were turned.” He reached out, resting his palm against her cheek and smiled. “This mess will soon be over and we have better things to think about. I want you here...now. Move in today.”

“What about Desta? Should we tell Raj first?” Suddenly faced with moving, Reva hesitated. What would living with a boy fulltime be like?

“She knows you’re moving so that’s not a big thing. And as close as we are to Raj, it’s not him who is moving in.” Riley laughed at that part. “As much as I’ve been in your quarters of late, it will really just be a change of location.”

“Okay, then,” she nodded and sat up, not bothering to pull the sheet around her. “Could we have a terrarium set up in the living room for Gilroy?”

“Just bring the one that’s there. I suspect she is going to be with us for a while, at least until we get that team back home.” Riley frowned, not wanting to dwell too much on what could be happening wherever Oz and the rest were.

Reva read his concerns and commented, “It seems like Six might be in demand there, too. I’m interested in how they’ll remove components from Ignatius. Maybe I could get involved in that, or maybe you could, since Leroy and Sakkath were working on a way to let Iggy interface with the computer.”

“It won’t be an easy process for any of them. The one good thing is that they will only have the implants for a short time so physically, restoring them should be easier.” Riley shook his head and pulled Reva closer. “Why don’t we eat, then start moving your things?”

“You have a naked Orion in your bed,” she said, shifting to kiss him, “And you’re more interested in food?” She chuckled.

“That naked Orion is why I need food. Gotta keep my strength up you know,” he teased her. “Especially if that Orion is going to be here all the time now.”

Playfully, she pouted. “Oh, fine. Let’s eat. Moving will be quick - I didn’t have much to begin with and never unpacked some of my stuff when Desta and I got back.” She made it sound like she and Desta had met on a vacation.

“Good. We’ll get it done and then you and I will spend the evening getting...settled in.” He winked at her then slipped from the bed.

*************
Ensign Reva Madhava
Lt. Riley Sukotav
Settling In