Recipe for Disaster

Posted on Sat Mar 5th, 2016 @ 4:56pm by Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Senior Chief Petty Officer Edana

* Archadia; Outskirts of the Capital *

Rolling his shoulders, Darwin shut his eyes for just a minute and paused before he started walking again. Starting off again, he shifted the duffle bag on his shoulder and was silently thrilled that, tonight, at least, he’d be able to sleep all by himself. He just hoped the bed was decent... that’d be his luck: a bed all to himself only to find that the bed was short, lumpy or generally uncomfortable. If that was the case, he might just walk back down to town and find a bed there.

Coming to the small cottage that was his post for the next few nights, at least, Darwin slowed and warily glanced around. There was a light on inside, something that made him wonder if he had a teammate on this. He sighed and resigned himself to dealing with someone from the Station. With any luck, he was just this person’s relief and would have the place to himself.

Unlocking the front door, he swung it open and stepped inside. “Hello?” No one was immediately evident in the front room or the kitchen.

“Darwin?” A voice, a familiar one, called his name from deeper in the cottage. Moments later, Edana hurried up the hall to the living room. Her expression said she hadn’t been expecting him. “What are you doing here?”

He hadn’t been expecting her, either. “Ah.. Ed? I ...I could ask you the same thing.” He had the feeling Gilroy was being especially cruel. “Gilroy reassigned me for a while. I’m off of Special Investigations,” he said.

She looked him up and down, her expression unreadable. “Off special investigations? Or off XO detail?”

Shifting the duffle bag to the couch, he coughed lightly. “Ah... yeah, well, that was a special investigation, right?” He looked sheepish. “Ed, you know that wasn’t something I planned.”

“It wasn’t something you turned down either.” She moved past him to the kitchen. “You hungry? I was just about to replicate something. Out here, that’s our option.”

“Maybe in a bit, Ed,” he said, thinking that he could better flee an angry Orion on an empty stomach than a full one. “So... turning her down...,” he started and realized the only rationale he had for taking Li to bed was... well, she’d already been in his bed and he had stopped thinking entirely rationally. He’d allowed more base desires to govern his actions. Not that he was alone in that. “If the circumstances were reversed... and it was you with...,” he thought hard, trying to come up with a male who was at least somewhat as attractive as he was, “...ah... let’s say Jackson, would you have turned him down?”

“Is this hypothetical situation an Oz-free world?” she asked. “If so, there would be an Ed-shaped hole in his door where I broke in. But that is so far out as to be ridiculous to consider. Will you see her again?”

He blinked, not sure whether the ‘Ed-shaped hole’ answer was really the one he’d been hoping for. His ideal answer sounded more like: ‘Of course I’d comfort him in his grief....’ “That scenario is as ridiculous to consider as a Sakkath-free world,” he said and then added, “She’s the Station XO and a friend, so, yeah, I’ll be seeing her again. She’s unlikely to be in my bed again unless she’s in the mood for just a leisurely....” He slowed but couldn’t manage to stop himself, even as he recalled that he was talking to his sort-of girlfriend. “...romp.”

Her eyes widened and she turned on her heel and stepped out into the kitchen. “Perhaps you’d better warn her you have company down here.” Her voice was pure ice. She opened a cabinet, then realized it was empty since the replicator made the dishes too. She slammed the door shut for emphasis. It wasn’t all that satisfying - much like the inability to leave a room and slam the door up on the station.

The sense that he was in danger made him feel a little tingly all over as his adrenaline spiked. “Um... well... she has company in her quarters, so I don’t think she’d care much.”

There was an eerie moment of silence, then Ed’s head poked out of the kitchen. “Who?”

“An old friend of the family. Looks like Rhys; his name is Max. He might be part of the reason I’m here, now that I think about it.” He glanced around the corner into the kitchen and quickly noted that Edana didn’t have any knives at hand. He relaxed, marginally; Orion claws could do some serious damage.

“And you’re jealous. Admit it.” She stood before the replicator, hands on her hips, undecided as to what she wanted.

“I’m not so sure I’m jealous, Ed. Protective...,” he nodded. His adrenaline shifted from flight to fight and he moved towards Ed. “Would you rather I wasn’t?”

“Wasn’t what? Protective?” Edana pursed her lips as she turned to look at Darwin. “I’m glad you are. She needed it.” Her voice had softened considerably. “And I know that sounds crazy when I should be mad as hell. When she was up in Intel, she just seemed so lost.”

“She was. She's less lost now.” He pressed against her, pushing back towards the counter. “You have every right to be mad. Not arguing that.” He picked her up and set her on the counter. “Though I don't want you mad at me.”

“So I should be glad I turned down Farco?” It was impossible to tell if she was joking or not.

His face twisted in disgust. “Farco? Really? You can do better.” He reached over to the replicator and ordered two things, neither of which were food. He brandished them at her and said, “Do we need these for my safety?” One was a pair of oven mitts decorated with chili peppers printed on the fabric; the other was duct tape, the better to keep said gloves on Ed’s hands.

Her eyes widened and then she began to laugh, and continued until tears streamed down her face. Finally, she pulled him close. “Very well. I guess I won’t rip you limb from limb...this time.”

“You're not just saying that to lure me into complacency, are you? As I recall it wasn't limbs you ripped off - it was skin.”

“And you came back for more as I recall.” She smiled back at him and rested her hands on his shoulders. “Look, Dar, honey. We never made any rules here so officially, I have no right to be mad. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t, but I do understand. I guess I am curious if it will be an issue going forward.”

“I came for more, but was armed with oven mitts, remember? I usually don't need rules, Ed. It isn't like I actively seek out other women when I'm already involved with one.” Technically, that was true. “It isn't like this was Reva,” he said.

“Reva? What’s she got to do with this?”

He grabbed an oven mitt and gestured for her to put a hand in it. He tried for casual: “Reva? Oh... Um... What does she have to do with this?” It wasn't like he could tell Ed that he'd be in Reva’s bed faster than warp ten if she weren't dating Riley; before, she was too young, now she'd matured a tiny bit and was more like forbidden fruit than ever. He had the feeling an admission like that would have Edana handing him body parts - his own - before walking out the door. “Ah... Yeah, nothing. Nevermind.”

She took the other mitt and swatted him with it. Then she pushed him back so she could slip off the counter. “I think I need to go for a walk and convince myself I’m not a third choice.”

“You're not! Really! Li wasn't a choice so much as a conv--..,” he stopped talking. “Ah... Maybe I’m the one who should go for that walk?”

“Keep digging darling.” She finally gave in and smiled. “But if you sniff wrong in Reva’s direction, the mitts come off. Got it?” She poked him in the chest for emphasis.

“What if she's doused herself with Seyla’s pheromones?”

“Then get away. Besides, you’ll have to deal with Riley too and I wouldn’t want that if I were you.” She slipped off the oven mitt and took his face in her hands. “Why don’t you remind me why I like you?”

“I can do that,” he smiled and kissed her, taking the oven mitt from her and picking her up to carry her into the bedroom. “How's the bed in here, anyway?”

*************
Lt. Cmdr M. Darwin
In One Fine Kettle of Hot Water

SCPO Edana
At a Boiling Point