One More Thing for Darwin to Worry About

Posted on Sun Jan 31st, 2016 @ 10:38pm by Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Mamu B'yaga & Niro & Falasin

Mission: Further Challenges

* Mamu’s Curio Shop *

Evening had come and with it closing time at Mamu’s place of business. Falasin had finished sweeping the front area and was now tidying up. As chaotic as the merchandise often appeared, there was a strange order to the place and Falasin knew it well. She could have closed her eyes, taken ten steps in any direction and told you what was currently on the shelves before her, eyes still closed.

As she straightened up beneath the front counter, she came across an old book tucked back in a corner. She pulled it out and laid it on the counter and only then did she recall why it had been there. It suddenly concerned her that she had forgotten it but this wasn’t the first small gap she’d discovered in her memories in the past weeks. Once or twice, Mamu had noticed but Falasin had brushed it aside as preoccupation. Whether or not Mamu had believed that, she had no idea.

Opening the book to the center revealed two sheets of heavy paper with a slight bump between them. Her breath caught as she stared at the paper and though she willed her hand not to touch it, her rebel fingers were already lifting the top sheet. Lying there, pressed flat and the colors now faded, was a large flower. It had come from Niro and Falasin had, giddy with pleasure at the time, decided to press it to save it forever. A lump rose in her throat as she gently touched the dried petals. She should throw it away, she knew, but something prevented it, some random urge to keep it close rose within her. With it came an overwhelming desire to see the one who had sent it. A soft rustle sounded close at hand, causing her to snatch her hand back like a child caught misbehaving.

“Finish sweeping, you have?” Mamu shuffled towards the counter from behind her curtain. She paused, eyeing the book Falasin had out. “Gathering cobwebs, too, I see. What ails you, child?”

“The sweeping is done and I was just putting away a few stray things.” Her gaze dropped back to the flower. “I’m fine. I just...had forgotten this was under the counter. I’d even forgotten doing it.” She shrugged. “A lot’s been happening of late. Scattered mind.” Her fingers brushed over the blossom once more. “Ready to go home?”

“You worry on Niro. Afraid that you must testify against him?” Mamu blinked laconically.

“Facing him will be difficult,” Falasin admitted. Even as she said it, though, a strange rush of adrenaline hit her. “I’ll get through it. I’ve been through worse things where he is concerned.” She frowned briefly, however. What those worse things were didn’t spring to mind. She carefully replaced the paper over the flower and closed the book. “Let me put this away and we can go.”

“I will wait at the front for you,” she shuffled past the counter.

When Mamu reached the front of the store, she was unsurprised to see Lt. Darwin just outside the door. She grinned and opened it for him. “Lt. Darwin, it is so good to see you,” she said, acting strangely.

Darwin stepped into the shop and waited a moment while Mamu locked the door. He caught the look she was giving and puzzled over it a moment. Because he towered over her, he crouched down to talk with her. “I have news for you and Falasin. Is she about?”

Mamu touched his arm, blinked slowly and smiled. “Yes, she is. She will be here in a moment. How are you, dear?”

He blinked and then suddenly chuckled, uncomfortably. If he knew women, then he'd have to say that Mamu was being coquettish with him: the touch, the blinking, the flirty smile. “I'm... I'm good, thank you.”

“Stressed, you are. I can see it.” She pointed with a clawed finger at his eyes. “Developing old man wrinkles there.”

Perhaps she wasn't flirting with him, he decided. He cleared his throat. “Right. I just have some news for you and Falasin?”

“Okay Mamu, I’m ready to go and -- oh, Darwin, hello. It’s good to see you.” She smiled but gave the distinct impression of someone in a hurry.

Mamu frowned at the Andorian. “Ease your haste, little one,” she said, earning her a curious look from Darwin. If anyone was the ‘little one’ here, it was Mamu. “This handsome young man has news for us.” Darwin colored slightly at her words.

“Of course, I’m sorry.” She turned to look at Darwin, who still crouched by Mamu. “What is it?” Worry etched her forehead and her antennae tilted towards him. What she sensed in Darwin was decidedly mixed.

“I came to tell you that Niro has pled out, so there’ll be no need for you to testify against him,” Darwin said. “He’ll be serving his time here on the Station - all fifteen years of it. You don’t need to worry about him harassing you.”

Falasin’s mouth fell open but nothing came out. Niro….staying here...fifteen years. She swallowed the lump that had returned to her throat and finally managed a single word.

“Here.”

“Yeah, here. It was decided that we’re best situated to handle the problem that is Niro. Another prison might not be as diligent as we will be about his mental abilities,” Darwin explained. He stood and touched Falasin’s arm, looking at her with some concern. “Are you okay, Falasin? Do you need to sit down?”

Here. She barely felt Darwin’s hand on her arm, the sensation buried by another, more overwhelming one that blindsided her.

“I...I need to go. I...thank you Darwin, for telling me.” She looked around as if searching for the door, then darted around him. It took her two tries but she unlocked the door and dashed away down the Promenade.

Mamu, lips pursed, watched the girl run. “Not the result you expected, did you, Lieutenant?”

“No, can’t say I thought she’d run away.” He rubbed the back of his head in confusion. “Has she been okay lately?” He looked at Mamu, but was thinking of Reva and Six and their recent trips to Piper.

“She has not been herself, no,” Mamu said. “Read her mind, I could, but I chose not to as she’s a bright, confusing light, too much for me to look at.”

“Bright... confusing... I can see that,” he nodded, also looking off where Falasin had disappeared in the Promenade crowd. “Well, let me know if there’s anything I can do,” he offered; it was an offer he made often, knowing that most people wouldn’t ever take him up on it.

“Oh, I have something you can do for me,” Mamu said, the light, coy tone back in her voice. “Take an old woman to dinner.”

He was exceptionally thankful that request had ended with the word ‘dinner’. Versus, say, the word ‘bed’. Then she spoke again, “Well, we could save that for dessert.”

He turned a new shade of red but nodded and said, “Sure, dinner. Let’s start there.” He opened the door for her and held it while she shuffled through it. This, he thought, would be an interesting dinner.... and there was no way in hell he was ordering dessert.

* Niro’s Private Cul-de-Sac *

Sitting in his cell, Niro blankly stared at the wall opposite him. He sighed and picked up a padd to scroll through his reading list. He’d already gone through four books, mostly skimming them, as none were as interesting as the life he’d led. He heard a sound in the circular room that looked into his cell and turned to look. His smile was quick and wide. “Well, look who’s here!”

Falasin stood before the forcefield, watching him. She bit her lip when he spoke to her, her eyes wide. Finally she managed to speak.

“Niro. You are here. Darwin said….you were staying.”

“I am, yes.” He smiled, stood and moved to stand in front of her. “Does that upset you?”

Falasin took a moment to think on his question. When she finally answered, what came out was not what she expected.

“No. I suppose it should but ...no. I was just thinking of you as we were closing the shop. I have that first flower you gave me. I pressed it in an old book and saved it. I’d forgotten I did and then suddenly, I remembered.”

“Oh, that’s lovely, isn’t it?” Looking her up and down, he looked pained. “I’d love to be able to touch you, my dear, to hold you in my arms again.”

She frowned at those words. “You can’t. Darwin said it would be fifteen years you would serve for the things you did to Reva and Six….and to me.” Her frown deepened as once again, what those things were seemed to be hard for her to get hold of. “I wanted to see you though. When I looked at the flower, suddenly I had to get down here.”

“I will be allowed contact visitation, Falasin. The schedule for that hasn’t been set, but it will be... and then I’ll be able to hold you.” He was well aware of just why she’d had the urge to see him. “You want that, don’t you?”

She looked him over from head to toe, then slowly nodded. “I missed you.”

“And I, you,” he whispered. He hated this: wooing a woman without any feedback as to her thoughts about him. Usually, he had no problem knowing exactly what to say, how to look, how to move to convince a woman that he was sincerely into her. Now, he was doing it blind. “Make a request to have a contact visit with me, my dear.”

“Who do I ask?” Falasin glanced back down the corridor. Away in the distance was the guard’s desk where two officers were on duty. “Them? Or someone else?” She inched closer to the forcefield. “What happened, Niro?”

“Darwin. Ask Darwin,” he said. “What do you mean what happened?”

“There’s holes in my memory. Why? I was fine and then they started coming, like little bubbles floating up that were empty. Things with you I desperately want to remember and cannot. Things with...us. Will they come back?”

“Were you ill?” He adopted a concerned look. “It’s possible those memories will come back - look, when you found the flower, you recalled that I had given it to you. If only we could reenact some of our time together, perhaps the rest would come back.”

“Maybe so.” A hint of a smile returned to her face. “At least I can come visit you. That’s good. I….I am sorry if what I said put you in here. I was just afraid….so much was happening and I know I get things confused at times.”

“You didn’t put me here, love. Those two, Reva and Six, they conspired to do this, to keep us apart,” Niro said, sadly.

Suddenly, the doors to Niro’s private pod opened and a large, tall man strode in, punched a code into the console that dropped the forcefield on Niro’s cell. “What have you done, you piece of shit?!” Darwin shouted at Niro as he grabbed the front of Niro’s shirt and pushed him deeper into the cell. “Why is she here?”

“Darwin, just the person my dear Falasin needs to see,” Niro laughed, grimacing as Darwin shoved him against the wall. “Don’t you, Falasin?”

“Let him go, Darwin,” Falasin squealed. “I just came to visit. That’s all. There’s no harm in that is there?” She jumped into the cell and squeezed between the two men. “He can’t do anything through the forcefield anyway! Stop it! Now!”

Darwin looked at Falasin, clearly confused, then at Niro. “One of these days, I’m going to use you as a punching bag,” he threatened, then backed off. He grabbed Falasin by the arm and hauled her out of the cell, quickly hitting the button to reengage the force field. “Why are you here? Really just to see him? Are you calling him a friend?”

“Had no one else been to see him?” she asked. “Maybe I just wanted to have some last words, you know? It’s okay, Darwin. Really.”

He stared at her closely. “Did you have a sudden urge to see him?”

Falasin narrowed her eyes and her gaze shifted to Niro, then back to Darwin. “Yes, because you said he was still here. I guess I wanted to see for myself.” She was lying and she hoped that Darwin would suppose it was because of his outburst that she appeared so shaky.

His brows knit together; when Niro shouted, “Let her go, Darwin!”, his expression shifted to one of exasperation. “Fine,” he said and released Falasin. “I left Mamu at Lao’s with a fresh plate of dumplings. Let’s go join her.”

“Sure.” She looked back at Niro and flashed him a quick smile. “I have to go.”

“Hey! I want Lao’s!” He shouted after them as they left.

“Ignore him,” Darwin said, a hand in the small of her back.

Falasin was silent as they left the Brig and took the lift to the Promenade. Finally she worked up the nerve to ask him her first question. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t have gone to see him?”

“I suppose not. He’s on neural inhibitors, so he can’t hurt anyone anymore, can’t erase anyone’s memories or implant false ones.” He considered that and sighed. “Just, give me a heads up if you’re going to come again.”

“And if I said I’d like to? What then?” she asked.

He’d have her see Raj first, he thought. “Ah... we’ll ...um. Do you?”

“He asked if I would. Are all his visits behind that forcefield?” Falasin wanted to know. “Can he come out at all? There’s a sitting room there outside his cell….”

He looked like he’d just swallowed a bug. “He is allowed contact visitation. Before we’ll let you do that, Falasin, you need to see Raj Amani and talk with him. If he clears you to see Niro, to ...be in contact with Niro, then we can make that happen.”

“I see. Are you alright Darwin?” He suddenly didn’t look so good and she was concerned.

“I’m fine,” he said quickly then added, “Just... I realized that I left Mamu with a plate of dumplings and I wonder whether she left any for me. For us, let’s get there.” He steered her towards Lao’s. “What will Mamu say about you seeing Niro?”

Falasin looked stricken at the question. “Oh no! Don’t tell her? Please? She despises him. She was so angry when I was seeing him before all that stuff happened.”

“Mum’s the word, then.” They entered Lao’s and Darwin strolled up to the table he’d been sharing with Mamu. He was delighted to see that there was half the plate of dumplings left. “Look who I found wandering the Promenade,” he said.

“Wandering... sure.”

“Hi Mamu.” Falasin gave her a sheepish smile, then sat down in the empty chair beside her. “How’s dinner?”

“Very good,” Mamu said before Darwin interrupted her: “Hey, thanks for leaving some! I’m surprised they’re still warm.”

“I did not leave any,” Mamu corrected him, “This is a new plate. My fifth.” Darwin blinked.

Falasin snickered. “You’ve never had dinner with her have you?” She swiped one from the plate and popped it into her mouth. “Can you two excuse me a moment?” Without another word, Falasin left the table and tracked down a waiter.

“She was with Niro?” Mamu asked, making Darwin choke.

Once he was able to breathe again, he said, “Did you read her?”

“No, I read you.”

“Yeah, she was talking to Niro.”

“Hmm,” she grunted disapprovingly.

A few minutes later, Falasin returned and sat back down. “I asked them to bring you another plate Dar,” she said. “Since you missed the first five. My treat.” She shot him a grateful look.

“Thanks,” he smiled and wondered whether Mamu was going to explode - either because Falasin had visited Niro or from dumpling (over)consumption.

“Oh, good, ordered more, I did. We should have plenty,” Mamu said, snagging three from the current plate and stuffing them in her mouth.

“You two enjoy them. I need to go. I’ll see you tomorrow Mamu.” Falasin scooted away from the table and as she reached the front door, the waiter passed her a carton of dumplings. Moments later she was gone.

Darwin saw that and commented, “This is all on my tab, isn’t it?” Mamu just nodded.

**************
Lt. M. Darwin
Mamu B’yaga
Falasin
Niro