The Mourning Dove
Posted on Wed Feb 24th, 2016 @ 11:26pm by Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Captain Li Hawke & Lieutenant Commander Leto & Lieutenant JG Phoebe Chaelt & Senior Chief Petty Officer Edana
Mission: Further Challenges
* Darwin’s Quarters *
Li’s dreams had been a surreal mix of the ravine, the waterfall, and silent Borg standing on the ledge above, looking down at her and Darwin as they’d enjoyed the water, floating wrapped in each other’s arms.
You belong to us, not him…. The communal voice had echoed in her head. We have the one you lost and one day we’ll have you too. Do not betray us…..
The voice of Admiral Wegener had sounded then, echoing all around them. “I’ll crush you….” A mighty wind had swept up and the drones had disintegrated into powder, scattered across the wild scrub grass that grew along the top of the canyon. Li could hear a muffled cry in the distance that carried on until it began to pull her from sleep. She struggled to awaken but when she tried to move, Darwin’s arm held her down as he slept. Frantically, she began to fight his arm and the sheet that was tangled around her.
Getting an elbow to the sternum was one of Darwin’s top least favorite ways to be woken. “Oh! Gods!” He had just a split second to be thankful the blow hadn’t landed too much lower before another limb flailed into his face. “Oh! Stop! Li! Wake up!” He grabbed for her and managed to wrap her in his arms. “Hey, wake up.”
She was breathing heavy and a cry broke from her but his voice seemed to cut through the panic and she grew still.
“Dar? Oh….I’m sorry….” She took a ragged breath. “That was something Rick said last night when I was there. That I shouldn’t feel guilty about you and if anyone gave me a hassle about it he’d crush them.” She groaned aloud now. “What a fucked up dream.”
“Wegener? Wegener knows you’re sleeping with me?” He panicked, just a little, before amending that, “I mean, sleeping-sleeping, not...? Um... what... what was the dream about?” Li answered him without words; instead, she showed him the dream, the bits and fragments her mind had latched onto. His hold on her tightened. “It’s a dream, Li,” he whispered, creeped out by it nonetheless.
“Crazy one. You’re right, it’s creepy as hell.” It was easy to interpret, actually. One thing in it made her wonder - the announcement that they had the one she lost, but then she attributed that to the fact that a drone had taken the body. “Why would they take his body to the cube, Dar? That makes no sense.”
“Think of the knowledge he has, Li. Schematics, codes, Station weaknesses, weaponry... emergency plans. Why wouldn’t they take him?”
“He won’t do them any good, he’s dead.” She didn’t want to think about the possibility of them scavenging his brain to drain it of its secrets. “He’s dead,” she whispered once more. Her arms tightened around Darwin. “To answer your question, Admiral Wegener does know I’m here. He seemed to think it a good idea actually.”
That the CO of the Station knew Li had been sleeping in his bed freaked Darwin out - and all they’d done was sleep, even on the planet, but it was weird to him that Wegener would know anything about his personal life. “A good idea? Well... okay. It is. I mean, can you imagine waking up alone after a dream like that?”
He had an excellent point. “Horrible thought,” she murmured. “Don’t worry, he’s not poking for details in my head. I suspect he thinks that we have…..you know. That might explain what he said.”
Rubbing a finger against his temple, Darwin nodded. “I think most would assume so, considering that men and women are adults and usually enjoy....” He shrugged. “Plus, I’m known for my skills,” he joked, “that’s why there’s a line outside the door.”
“A line?” Li blinked up at him. “Am I slowing up traffic? If so, I can hit the road.” She started to pull away from Darwin.
He pulled her back. “You know I’m kidding.” Or, at least, she should, since she was in his head.
She gave a low, soft laugh and nodded. “You know, I already want to go back down there. I had that place, you…..it was all so perfect.”
He relaxed back into his pillow and pulled Li down with him. “It was. It always is when I go there. ‘Course, I usually don’t take the fast way down.” He smiled lopsidedly, thinking of the rush that had given him. He’d felt intensely alive as he was plummeting towards the water.
The rush that returned to Darwin poured through Li as well. “It was amazing. I felt alive then for the first time since this mess started.” She’d felt it too when he had kissed her beneath the waterfall. She passed that memory to Darwin. This time, the emotions that came with it were far stronger. “That’s when I felt most alive.”
“Li...,” he started then swallowed. Her emotions were huge and had a physical impact on him; he shifted a bit. “I’m willing to make you feel even more alive... or something, Li, but we need to get our signals straight. Is sex something you want?” He could handle a ‘no’, though he would need a cold shower.
“I don’t want you hurt, Darwin,” she whispered. “You know where I am and how messed up my head is right now. I don’t want to drag you down with me or have you turn into my crutch.” She suspected, though, that it was too late for that.
“What does that have to do with sex?” Sex was sex, a normally fantastic physical activity between consenting adults, in any number or combination. “But I’m not going to pressure you.” He did, however, think it’d be healthy.
“I think it would be too,” she said, picking up on the thought. “It’s not a huge deal for my kind, but as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into….” She tilted her head up to brush a soft kiss to his lips.
“Let me,” he said, kissing her gently at first then more demandingly. He rolled her to her back and settled her into the pillows. He knew she was connecting to him, leaning on him as her grief stormed around her. In the face of that knowledge, he made certain that she felt as alive as he could make her feel.
It was sometime later that both lay exhausted, tangled together like puppies, arms and legs all mixed. Out in the living room, the door chime sounded and Li kissed his shoulder. “You are a popular fellow.”
“Told you: there’s a line outside that door. Don’t be surprised if this is a groupie,” he joked before kissing her and shifting out from beside her. “Be right back.” He grabbed his PJ pants and put them on as he headed for the door. He glanced back at the closed bedroom door then at the clock in the living room and cursed whoever was at his door. When the door opened, his stomach dropped. “Ah... morning? Barely?”
“It is, sorry sweetheart.” Edana stepped inside and leaned in to kiss his cheek. She stopped short of touching him however, and sniffed. Then sniffed again, “Oh, I see.”
Shit.... He knew exactly what Edana was smelling. Hell, he could smell it himself. “It’s not what you think, Ed.” He knew she’d ask next: ‘It isn’t? Reeeaallly?’ and give him the stink eye. “Well, okay, it is. But... not... it’s not... it is but it isn’t. Get it?”
“Only if you’re using Ferengi logic.” She laughed at the joke, then shook her head. “Is this going to make a difference?”
“With us?” Relief started to give him his eloquence back. “Not as far as I’m concerned. I mean... Does this make a difference? Does it make a difference that I didn’t seek this out?”
That surprised Edana. “I don’t know that I’ve ever heard it described quite that way before. You mean...they came to you and you just agreed?” Something sounded really odd about this and for once she wished she was telepathic. His cagey manner suddenly brought realization home and she glanced to the closed bedroom door. “Oh...damn. She’s still here.”
“Uh. Maybe.” He slid sideways to make sure he was between Ed and the bedroom. “Does it make a difference for us?”
“We’ll see won’t we?” She opened the doors and stepped back outside. “What I came about can wait. Just an update on some stuff down below. I need to get to some reports. Find me later.”
“I will, Ed. Thanks,” he said and smiled as the door closed. He’d been thanking her for not ripping his manhood to shreds; had he been more awake, he might have feared she would wait till they were in bed together before doing so. Orions could be vindictive. Getting a glass of water from the kitchen, he went back to the bedroom. “That was --”
“Interesting,” Li finished the sentence. She studied Darwin a moment, sensing that already things were complicated. “What happens now?”
He laughed and agreed, “Interesting, indeed. It’s like the old Ferengi curse: May you live in interesting times.” He shed his PJs and crawled back into the bed, kissing her knee, then her thigh, then her hip. It was clear that he’d decided that what happened now was another orgasm.
Li pulled a shirt over her head, then ran her fingers through her hair. She had replicated casual clothes and was leaving for Intel. “Good enough.” Turning around, she moved back over to the bed where Darwin lounged. She reached out, brushing her finger over his lips. “Sleeping alone tonight?”
He arched a brow at her. “You know that answer better than I do, Li. You don’t have to stay away. Why are you going to Intel, anyway?”
“To see Leto. She’s one of my oldest friends, Dar. I need to see her.” She looked down at him, then nodded. “I’ll be back after I have dinner with Suresh. I’m off to see Leto, then Earl and Oz, then Robin, and finally dinner. Then….” She smiled and brushed a kiss to his forehead. “Here.” She turned without another word and passed out of the bedroom. Moments later, he could hear the front doors close.
Darwin idly wondered how far her telepathy reached then got up and started his day.
* Intel *
Li emerged from the turbolift on the main Intel deck. As soon as she appeared, one of the junior officers announced, ‘Captain on deck!’ and everyone snapped to attention.
“At ease,” Li said without thinking. She stopped first at Phoebe’s office. “Hey Pheebs. How’s things up here?”
“Li!” Phoebe looked up, surprised. “They’re okay. According to Piper, Dae is recovering okay. We don’t have much else to report right now.” What she really meant was: ‘we have nothing I can tell you about right now.’
“Holding out on me?” Li smiled. “I see the Admiral made it clear I am completely off duty, good and thoroughly. It’s okay, really. Any word from Seren?”
“No, Ma’am,” Phoebe shook her head. “Which means, of course, that all’s good out there. Quiet.”
“There’s one good bit of news in all this,” Li answered.
“Yeah, one bit of good news,” said a voice behind her. Leto stepped in and wrapped Li in a tight hug. A silent conversation passed between them and finally, Leto nodded.
“Yeah. I’ll reserve the holodeck for tomorrow. We’ll take Darwin if he wants to go, break him in right.” She grinned at Li.
“You can come too, Pheebs. Dino hunt,” Li told her. “1400 hours.”
“Dino?” Phoebe wasn’t sure what a dino was; if it was anything like a snipe, she wanted no part of it. “Um... sure?”
“Dinosaurs,” Li explained. “Huge ones. It’s tough, I’ll warn you. It was after one of those that I got called to see Captain O’Connell on the Berkeley and didn’t realize he had two admirals in the room. I looked like I’d been chewed up and spit out.”
“And that was one of the easy ones,” Leto added with a laugh. “Nick did most of the work that day.”
“Oh, this is one of those! Okay, I’ll go,” Phoebe nodded.
“Good. It will be a good distraction I think. Give me something to do since the Admiral won’t let me go back to work yet.” Li shrugged. “Probably the best thing right now though, till I get my head on straight.”
Edana, in black PT clothes, entered the office and stopped, looking around at the three women. “Li,” she nodded in greeting. “Sorry, I was just coming in to give a quick report on the newbie. He’s got something to learn about fighting women; he underestimated me just now and has to take a trip to Piper.” She shrugged and laughed.
“Anyone who underestimates the women up here, especially you, has a painful lesson to learn.” Leto gave Edana a wink.
“They do,” Li agreed. “Come on in, Ed, it’s good to see you.”
“We were just talking about a hunt tomorrow. You in?” Leto asked.
“Oh, a dinosaur hunt? Yes. Could we go after one of those...,” she flailed her arms close to her chest, as if her arms were extremely short, “Rexes?”
“Sure,” Li smiled at Ed. “Nick hates those. Last time we had one he bit Nick on the ass. Be there, 1400 tomorrow.” Li moved over to the door, stopping beside Edana. “I’ve missed you all.”
Ed impulsively hugged Li. “You’ve been missed, too.” The XO had a familiar scent on her, but Ed couldn’t place what it was.
“Alright, I need to get to Piper before Earl sends Gilroy out to track me down again like he did last night.” She waved and left the office, headed for the lift.
Edana glanced at Phoebe and Leto as Li left. “Didn't Gilroy say that Darwin located her last night?” A light went off in her head and her eyes went wide for a moment. “Nevermind. I gotta get going. See you two later,” she hurried out.
Leto looked from Phoebe to the door and back with a smirk. “I swear I showered this morning.”
“I don't think it was us,” Phoebe mused. “While I have you here, there's some reports to go over....”
***************
Lt. Cmdr. M. Darwin
Captain Li Hawke
SCPO Edana
Lt. Leto
Lt. (jg) Phoebe Chaelt
