Working Out the Specifics

Posted on Sat Jan 30th, 2016 @ 5:52am by Commander Louie Rousseau & Céline Valois
Edited on on Sat Jan 30th, 2016 @ 12:34pm

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Louie's Quarters

* Louie’s Quarters *

“Hold this?” He passed the carton of tiramisu to Celine and tapped in the code to unlock his door. “I should warn you before we go in...Little Kahuna has a mouth on him...well mentally speaking. He doesn’t have much in the way of filters.”

Celine shook her head and smiled. “This should be fun.”

The doors opened and, walking in, she didn’t really know what to expect. Being young, she assumed Little Kahuna was small but, for some reason, she expected a huge monster spider to jump out at them, hanging from the ceiling.

Louie took the carton from her and placed it and the wine on the table near the kitchen. “Kahuna?” he called out. “I’m home. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

Moments later, a voice sounded in their heads. Coming. Who is it?

“A friend of mine,” Louie answered.

“How big is he, exactly?” she asked. “Or does he usually have to tell you where he is?”

“You’ll see.” Louie smiled and retrieved wine glasses from the kitchen, then began to unpack the tiramisu. Just as he was finishing, Kahuna appeared,crawling onto the tabletop. He stopped and seemed to be looking at them, then a hiss sounded in their heads.

Wow, she’s a looker Louie. Cy would be whistling right now but I don’t know how to do that yet.

“What did I tell you?” Louie murmured to Celine.

She was relieved to see that Kahuna wasn’t enormous, but still, a talking spider of any size was just...strange. “Hello,” she said, somewhat timidly. “I’m Celine.”

Hello, gorgeous, Kahuna replied. Hey, aren’t you the lady on Louie’s desk?

“Umm, no, Kahuna. She isn’t. Long story, which we will get into later. Celine teaches at the school here. She is also a baseball fan.”

At that bit of news, Kahuna crept closer to Celine and stopped before her. He held out one fuzzy leg as if in invitation. That’s awesome! You know spring training begins in three weeks and Louie gets all the games here. You’ll come watch with us?

Louie held back a laugh as he passed Celine a glass of the wine. He watched them, glad to see the sight of Kahuna hadn’t unsettled her. He was also curious what she would say to the inquisitive spider.

“I can’t promise to come to all of the games,” she said, looking at Louie with an amused smile, then back to Kahuna. “I may be busy with the kids. But I wouldn’t mind coming over when I can.” She tilted her head, a question coming to mind. “How old are you, if you don’t mind my asking?”

New, was his answer. He crept closer and now touched her hand that rested on the table. You smell good. Are you going to keep this one Louie? I like her.

Louie almost dropped his wine glass but managed to keep it in his hands. Then he coughed and a flush crept up his neck.

“Well, it’s a little...complicated, Kahuna.” Knowing that wouldn’t satisfy him, Louie continued. “We’ll see.”

Celine’s eyebrows shot up at that answer. “Uh...anyway,” she continued, “the reason I asked that, Kahuna, is that I’m very impressed with your linguistic skills and with how much you know about baseball. What else do you like?”

Eating. I like Louie’s office too but when I’m here I can watch movies. I found one in the computer about a lady named Debbie and --

“I think that’s enough, Kahuna.” Louie was mentally kicking himself now, and trying not to laugh at the same time. “Celine and I have some things to talk about so I think it’s terrarium time. Your...ah...dessert is in there.”

Very well. Goodnight lovely Celine.

“Goodnight, Kahuna. It was nice meeting you.”

“I’ll be right back.” Louie gently lifted the spider, then hurried off to the spare room. A few minutes later, he stepped out, closing the door behind him, and crossed to retrieve his wine. “Ready for dessert?”

Celine had already started in on her tiramisu. She stopped, fork halfway out of her mouth, and looked up at him. “Yuph?” she said, mouth full.

He began to laugh, then shook his head. “You go sit. I’ll bring all this stuff.” He motioned her to the sofa. then began to refill the wine glasses.

“I’m amazed at how well he speaks, Louie. Are all of his siblings the same way?”

“They are, yes.” He carried the glasses over , then brought his tiramisu and sat down beside her. “His two sisters actually became verbal before he did but I think he’s doing his best to catch up. He’s certainly much more blunt than they are, but that may be mine and Cy’s fault.” He took a bite of his dessert and once he’d finished it, he continued. “But as you see….no filters. He was good tonight. You should’ve heard what he said to Lt. Leto.”

She wondered who Leto was, but passed on the question. “So where do his sisters live? And he’s the only male?”

‘The only one who survived,” Louie answered. “There were a whole bunch more but...well...we’re eating so perhaps that story’s best left till later. Ariadne stays with Cadets Ziyad and Conradi most of the time and Gilroy is generally with Ensign Madhava, Cy’s assistant. They do get passed around though, but we’ve been watching them while Iggy and Commander Zeferino, whose pet Iggy was originally, are off the station. He likes to watch movies when I am gone. Apparently, though, I need to make sure he’s not watching things he shouldn’t...like he did tonight.” His smile was sheepish. “I am not about to tell Oz and Iggy he happened onto...well...what he did.”

“What did he watch? Somebody named Debbie, was it? Surely they wouldn’t mind it if he watched some movies. He has to get bored being here all the time.”

“That’s why I take him to the Academy with me. Debbie...well...that’s a very old porn movie from Earth. Debbie Does Dallas. Apparently he thought, based on the title, that it was a travel documentary.” Louie laughed and reached for his glass. “But, that’s Kahuna. Sorry if his questions were a little blunt. At times, it’s like living with a precocious four year-old.”

“Holy--there’s pornography on the station computer!?” she asked. “Please tell me that the kids can’t just go in and access it? I’m not...judging, or anything--what you access is your decision, but I just can’t think of the kids in my class accidentally coming across that!”

“There is everything in the computer but most have limited access based on their parents. There are no restrictions on my access so...yeah. Time to think like a parent when Kahuna’s here. It’s been interesting. I never had kids so I am not used to thinking in those terms. I never expected to play guardian for a sentient arachnid.” Louie smiled back at Celine. “So no, no worries where your students are concerned.”

“That’s a relief,” she said, then added, “and who would expect a sentient arachnid, much less being its guardian?” She laughed. “This place is just amazing.”

“You’ve barely scratched the surface, Celine,” Louie answered. He took the last bite of his tiramisu and moved the plate aside. “Have you gone up to watch the wormhole yet? Or gone down to see Archadia? Seen the show at the Nexus? One of our cadets does the early set there - old big band and dance tunes. Then there’s live theatre, movies...the list is almost endless.”

“I haven’t done much, honestly,” she replied after another bite. “I’ve been around the Promenade several times and have seen Helena at Lady Ella’s. That’s about it.”

Louie lowered his glass and raised his eyebrow at her. “Seriously? I think we need to remedy that, don’t you?”

“I don’t think I’d mind that, especially going down to the planet,” she said as the last bite of her dessert disappeared followed by wine to wash it down. “I haven’t been on many planets, just my own and Earth one time. I think it would be interesting. I’ve read up on the Archadians and they have quite a bit of history.”

“They do.” He lowered his glass and shifted a bit to face her directly. “The weekend is coming up. What would you like to do first?”

Celine had started to refill her wine glass but stopped and set the bottle back down. “Louie, I need to ask you a question, and I mean absolutely no disrespect by it. Why are you so interested in showing me around? I know we’ve been thrown together under strange circumstances, but I don’t want to be a replacement for her,” she said, knowing he knew who she was referring to. “We can be friends, I wouldn’t mind that at all because you seem like a great person, but I just want to make sure that our friendship isn’t ruined from the start because of who I look like.”

It was a difficult question to ask and she was concerned that he might be offended, but it was something she had to know before allowing any relationship they had to continue.

He honestly considered what she had to say, and finally, he reached over and took her hand. “Would it help if I said that, now that I know you better, you are nothing like her? That you are fascinating in your own right? Hell, that you’re even a baseball fan?” He smiled gently. “And would it help you to know that, given it’s been over a century, my clearest memories are of her when she was older and looked different too?”

She smiled half-heartedly. “I guess it does. You’re a good person, Louie. It’s just...weird, this whole thing. We’ve known each other less than a week and most of that was confusion and a bit of sorrow, and now we’re hanging out like we’ve known each other for ages. As long as we go into this friendship without the extra baggage, everything will be fine.”

He nodded slowly. “That’s what I want too. I want to be sure that you see me just as...me and know that I see you as you, not as some replacement. I’ve kicked around this ol’ universe enough to know the difference and trust me, this is different. I’m so very glad about that too.”

Celine nodded. “In that case, I want to go to the planet. Maybe a little day trip to see some of the sights to get my feet wet.”

“Then we need to include the beach when we go. The ones on Arachadia are absolutely gorgeous. Pack accordingly.” He squeezed her hand, then lifted it to brush a light kiss to her fingers. “More wine?”

“Louie,” she said, looking at her hand then up at him. “That’s the sort of thing I’m talking about.”

“How so?”

“Kissing my fingers?” she said, like it explained everything. “That seems like a ‘more than friends’ sort of thing to do, at least it is where I grew up. Unless you were greeting royalty, kissing the ring and all that. If that’s normal for your people, I apologize, but, well, it just makes me a bit uncomfortable.”

“My apologies,” he murmured. “That’s the last thing I want to do. One sec, I’ll just get the bottle.” He rose and moved around the sofa to get the wine.

She wondered if she was being too rough on him. Too prudish? Maybe that was just something Louie and his family did, like some Earth cultures kissed greetings instead of just shaking hands. She just couldn’t get it out of her head, though, that he may still be a bit hung up on she and his wife looking the same. But she was determined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

He returned to the sofa and refilled the glasses. “I’ll tell you one more thing that may help put your mind at ease. I don’t want...a replacement. That life was a long time ago. I lived an entire lifetime before Cy and I got yanked through that rift. He and I both have had to start over. I’m not the man I was for all those years and I don’t want the same things I did back then. Does that make any sense?”

“It does,” she said with a nod. “I’m sorry. I guess I just overreacted.”

“Understandable.” He smiled back at her. “Now, since I’ve assured you I am not trying to make you into her, I have a request. Can you see me as I am now and not an old man of a hundred and sixty-nine? That idea’s been a little hard for me to accept myself, I suppose. I don’t know how Vulcans deal with it.”

She had to laugh. “If you mean to say that I’m treating you like an old man, don’t worry. The thought never crossed my mind...until now, you geezer.”

He laughed along with her. “Hush you or I’ll whack your kneecaps with my walker.” Now he glanced back at the table. “Did we eat all the tiramisu? Really?”

“I finished mine a while ago,” she said proudly. “You must have had to remove your teeth, or something, because it took you forever.”

“Ohh, I see how it is.” His laughter returned. “Wait till we hit the beach and I’ll show you who’s old...or something. But since dessert is gone, how about a movie? And no, it’s not Debbie Does Dallas, and no, you’re not watching with us Kahuna.” He called out.

“I can’t wait to see what kind of old Victorian swimsuit you’ll be sporting.”

“You’ll have to wait and see. Is 1100 too early tomorrow?” He studied her face as he awaited her answer. This close, he was struck by the fact that as he looked at her, the image that rose in his mind was her and not the Celine from a hundred years ago. The corners of her lips turned up just enough to give her an amused, impish expression that really appealed to him. Once more he noticed the auburn lights in her hair when the light hit it just right and wondered how her hair would look in the sun. He realized she was speaking and pulled himself back to the present.

“...and could even go earlier, if you want. No classes over the weekend, so I’m free pretty much any time. It’s not like I’m going to get all gussied up just to walk around all day and then go to the beach.”

“Good. I’ll pick you up at nine and bring something to change into for wandering around. There’s some interesting things to see.” He reached for a padd on the end table and passed it to Celine. “You pick out the movie. I am gettting our second dessert out of the kitchen.” He rose and wandered off in that direction.

She scrolled through the list of movies and settled on one that made her smile. She had heard of the actress, about how beautiful she was and how much more she did off camera later in her career. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s, coming up,” she announced. “I’ve not seen it, so don’t spoil anything for me if you have,” she said, then mumbled, “or I’ll beat you with your walker.”

--------------------------------------
Celine Valois
Wine, Metamucil and a Movie

Lt. Commander Louie Rousseau
Breaking New Ground (Without A Walker)