Fall on Me

Posted on Mon Oct 22nd, 2012 @ 4:51pm by Seyla & Suresh

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant

Your faith like the pain
Draws me in again
She washes all my wounds for me
The darkness in my veins
I never could explain...
~Fuel


Darwin? Darwin?!? How the hell could she just leave and go straight to that hnaev? the heat beat a steady rhythm in his face as he hurried through the corridors. He wasn’t entirely sure what his plan of action was yet, but he knew one thing for sure: barging into Darwin’s quarters to demand she leave was tantamount to suicide. Or at least a not-so-quick trip to the brig. And it wouldn’t do anything to improve matters where Seyla was concerned. He stopped and leaned back against the wall to collect his thoughts. No, what he needed was a way to get her home without making a fool of himself so he could make her see that she mattered.

Mattered? What the hell was he thinking? Where had that come from?

Admit it, Suresh, she understands you, whether you want to admit it or not. She isn’t afraid of the dark places within you. She understands the wounds. She gives you something you never had with --

“No!” His exclamation cut off that thought in an instant. He couldn’t allow himself to go there, to tarnish Isha’s memory, no matter how understanding Seyla was. As if summoned, Isha’s face rose in his mind, her exotic beauty still clutching at his heart. Leaning his head back against the wall, he let the thoughts come, carrying him. The interior of the Nexus Club drifted into his mind now and he regretted that he’d never taken Isha there to dance. He wondered if she would have allowed him to touch her then, hold her in his arms as they glided over the floor.

The dream of them dancing together was replaced by another couple, one he’d seen dancing for real there. A tall white-haired man in a Starfleet Command uniform, leading a beautiful redhead that Suresh was reasonably sure had some Romulan blood in her. The man smiled down at the woman as he had done that night and once again, Suresh was struck by the familiarity of his smile. He knew that smile so very well, as if he’d seen it a thousand times, but where? He knew he’d never met the Admiral before. He didn’t even know the man’s name but it should be easy enough to find out. He would do just that but first, he had to get to Seyla. Moving on along the corridor, he arrived finally at her door and rang the chime. It was time to put one of her girls to work.

One of her girls, this one went by the name Bella and was none-too-bright, opened the door and smiled sweetly at Suresh. “Sey’s not here,” she said, shaking her head. “And you’re not on her list.”

Suresh raised his eyebrow at Bella. “I know she’s not here, and I know exactly where she is. What the hell do you mean, not on her list, Bella?”

“You know, for one of us to take care of. ‘Course, the customer’s always right, right?” She flashed him a smile that was trying for sultry and not quite hitting it and twisted a lock of hair around two fingers. “I’d be happy to do you.”

Suresh stepped in and once the doors closed, he took hold of Bella’s shoulders and turned her, slamming her into the doors and pinning her there with his body. “Don’t forget who owns all of you, Bella. I don’t need to be on any list. I need you or any of the rest? You come running. You’d do well to remember that or you might find yourself in a much less comfortable job.”

Where Bella should have looked somewhat frightened, she merely ended up looking mildly, woodenly unintelligent. “Um, okay. You want me?”

“Are you the only one here?”

She was quick to nod. “I’m taking in the calls for service and scheduling dates.”

“God help the clients then,” Suresh murmured, then spoke louder. “In that case, you have a call to make. And let’s hope you’re as good an actress on it as you are with your men. You need to call Seyla. She’s in Lt. Darwin’s quarters. Say whatever you have to but get her back down here. It’s an emergency.” He added that last hoping it would help Bella’s two brain cells to work together a little more convincingly.

“An emergency? What emergency?” Her brow tried to furrow, but her expression remained wooden.

“It’s going to be a serious medical one if you don’t get to it, Bella.” His voice was sharp as a razor. “Now.”

Catching the threat in his voice, she didn’t manage to look concerned, but she did start moving a bit faster - which meant she started moving. Going to Seyla’s desk, she opened a channel.

Darwin’s

Listening to Seyla’s end of the conversation, Darwin propped himself on one elbow. Tonight had been one interruption after another. The first interruption - that of Seyla preventing him from getting any sleep - was a happy one; the remainder of the interruptions, particularly the one wherein Seyla called out Suresh’s name instead of his, were not happy ones. This one was sounding like an unhappy one. “What’d she want?”

“Said there’s an emergency,” Seyla answered then saw how the word put Darwin on alert. “Nothing security can help with.”

“You sure? I can go as an unofficial security guy for you.”

She smiled at him for his offer but shook her head. “No, Dar, this involves lady-parts and such. I think you’d be more inclined to run away in fear than help out.”

“Oh. Yeah. I’ll leave that sort of emergency to you. Think you’ll come back tonight?”

“I don’t know. Depends on just what’s up. Let’s plan on me not returning.”

“Okay. I need some sleep,” he nodded and watched her dress. In just a few minutes, he was watching her leave.

Seyla’s

Entering her home-slash-office, Seyla immediately knew something was off. For one, Bella wasn’t there to greet her or pull her in fifty different directions before finally telling her about the emergency. “Bella?” For another thing, the lights were low. As Bella didn’t answer her, she instead called an order to the computer, “Computer, lights to 70 percent.”

The lights came up to reveal Suresh sitting on the sofa, a drink in hand. “Hello, Seyla.”

A sharp yelp escaped her. Of all the things she might have expected, seeing him wasn’t on the list. Recovering quickly, she snarled at him and demanded, “What are you doing here? And where is Bella?”

“Out, and really Seyla, is she the best you could do? I have furniture smarter than her. As for your question, I wanted to see you. Would you rather I had showed up at Darwin’s door?”

She paled; her normally emerald-toned skin faded to the color of milky jade. He’d checked on her whereabouts. Trying to sound conversational, Seyla replied about Bella, “Some men don’t like challenges, Suresh. They like their girls to be about as smart as a jellyfish and just as wet. Bella fits both categories.”

“As for showing up at Darwin’s door...,” she moved towards her desk, “That would have earned you a trip to either sickbay or the brig or both.”

“My point exactly.” He shifted slightly and sipped his drink before setting it aside. “I came for two reasons, Sey. First, to apologize for earlier.”

“Apologize? Really?” Warily, Seyla watched him. “And Jade? Where is she?”

“Locked in my quarters. You needn’t worry about her, I have no intentions of laying a hand on her.” His dark eyes held Seyla’s. “I was out of line, pure and simple. You know I care about you, surely?”

Now he was really freaking her out. Maybe she should have brought Darwin along; immediately, she scratched that idea - bringing Darwin here would have caused all sorts of explosive problems. “You care about me? And just which head is doing the talking right now, Suri?”

“Is it that hard to see? Who do I always come to? You know me for who I am and don’t care. I know this Jade person annoyed you. It was a spur of the moment thing. I need.....” He stopped mid-sentence, not entirely sure what he intended to say. Running his hand through his hair, he remained silent.

“You need time, you need your grief and your control and your own way,” she snapped. “I’ve known you for who you are and what you are for a very long time, Suresh. During all of that time, I’ve never looked down on you, even when you’ve treated me as less than....” She stopped short of saying Isha’s name, “Even when she didn’t treat you as you should have been treated, I didn’t question your sanity. Your intelligence, perhaps,” she nodded. “But you always came to me to ease the hurt she left behind. And now you have a slave... one that you claim you won’t touch....” Shaking her head, Seyla wasn’t sure what to make of Suresh now.

“I don’t want her,” he said quietly. “What I want is you, and you not seeing Darwin. Coming to me instead.” And that was it, in a nutshell. He didn’t want her running off to Darwin. Knowing she was there made him crazy, but now was not the time to go overboard, and so he remained calm.

Though she was stunned and, she realized, cautiously thrilled, by his words, Seyla was too deep into her own culture’s mistrust of others. Turning his words over in her head, she looked for what angle he was playing - after all, neither of them had ever trusted the other to not be playing a game or trying to get one over on the other. How would admitting to wanting her, or of being jealous of Darwin, help Suresh? “You’ve wanted me before, usually in hourly increments. Is this a new ‘want’, something longer termed?”

“Yes. The past days without...her....have led to time to think Sey, and made me ask myself what I was missing. The answer was right here.” He smiled for a moment and that was the truth.The other thing was that he feared her association with Darwin would turn dangerous for him. Even so, Suresh was clear-headed enough to realize that deep down, he really did care for her.

“Have you considered whether you’re simply transferring your desire for her over to me? I’ve seen other men do that - they sometimes get confused and think sex is love or the need for sex is love.” Of course, Suresh hadn’t said he loved her - just that he needed her. And how did he need her? In his bed, on his couch, on his floor? Or in his life? The last was a strange concept for Seyla.

“I won’t lie about what I felt for her, but neither will I continued to ignore what there is here with you either. If neither of us cared, there would not be so much heat in the arguments.” He smiled again as he looked over to her. “So the question is what do you do now?”

“I thought the heat in the arguments was all part of the fun,” she commented, shrugging. At least she was finally moving closer to him, though; she came away from her desk and went to the well-stocked bar in the living room. “Another drink, Suri?”

“Yes, thank you.” He held out his glass to her. “You’re right, the heat is part of the fun. It at least tells me that I'm more than just someone else you service. But is he?” It was clear he was still thinking of Darwin.

Turning her back to him to refill his glass and fill one for her, Seyla thought about the answer rather than flippantly brushing off the question. Was Darwin more than just a way to take the Station Security’s pulse and temperature? Recalling how he’d been so gentle and yet unyielding when taking care of her bruises - bruises Suresh had put on her, she smiled slightly. Darwin touched her in ways Suresh didn’t.

Still quietly thinking about the question, she handed Suresh his drink and sipped hers. “Is he more than the average client? Yes, Suri, he is. I’ve told you before that he’s a good source of information. Nothing specific, but he reveals more than he knows he reveals,” she finally answered. Moving close to Suresh, she put a hand on his cheek and jawline, “But is he like you? No. He’s ...nice to me, gentle almost.” She chuckled and added, “Eventually, he’d bore me. You, though. You and I live in the same world; we get it and we get each other.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “So I’m not nice?” Well, that was rather self-explanatory and he knew it. It was the truth. Nice was a word that had never been applied to Suresh. “I am what I am, Sey. I don’t know that I can change. Then again, I never thought anyone could hurt me as she did either.” And there it was. Something he’d never dared admit had simply slipped out before he could stop it. Saying it felt like a betrayal, however, of the woman he’d given his heart to and had become so obsessed with. He downed his drink and rose to refill it, needing to move more than he needed the drink.

“I didn’t say anything about you needing to change,” she nearly rolled her eyes, but knew that’d likely irritate him. Later, they could argue; for right now, they needed to stay somewhat on point. To help make sure they did, she decided not to tell him she’d told him so about Isha. The woman had been vile, using her mental powers to twist Suresh around her finger; without Seyla there to relieve and revive him, Suresh would have caved in on himself a long time ago, all thanks to Isha. The complexity of her jealousy surprised her - she hated Isha for hurting Suresh; she wanted to be the one that had the power to injure him like this.

“I know. You’ve never expected that and it means more than you know.” He refilled his glass and stood at the bar, his back still to her. It was easier to get at deeper matters this way. “I know you think she was bad for me. Maybe so, but there was a time...the night she and I were arrested, that I almost got through. Something was wrong that night. I found her in her quarters staring out at space. She wouldn’t talk but something pained her deeply.” His voice grew softer. “She let me hold her in my arms but she wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. I got the feeling that night that, had we not been interrupted, perhaps I might have been able to really reach her in a way I never could. I don’t know that I ever really knew her, and yet she knew everything about me.”

“She was telepathic, Suresh! Of course she knew all about you! It’s like fucking a Betazoid or an Enaran - they know how you like to be touched because they can read your thoughts.” Exasperated, Seyla shook her head. “Suri, I don’t know what her game was, but she was playing you. Any woman who wraps a man around her finger like that and then refuses to bed him is doing something not in the man’s best interests. Particularly when the man is as good looking as you.” The last was a small attempt at diverting his attention from the rest. She could have used her pheromones to do that as well, but didn’t; to have done so would have muddied the water.

“Maybe so.” He smiled a bit and turned back to face her finally. “You think I’m good looking?” But her words, at least some of them, echoed in his head. ...like fucking a Betazoid or an Enaran... Her eyes had been the wrong color for a Betazoid. Enaran perhaps? She’d had none of the tiny temple spots but that was easily done by cosmetic procedures. A man’s face rose in his thoughts once more, prodding at him. That man had had noticeably black eyes.

“Even without hair, Suri, you’re a good looking man. Haven’t you noticed that all of my girls bat their eyes at you and try to get your attention?”

“I’ve used one of them only a couple of times. Is it bad that I can’t even recall her name?” The woman had been purely for stress relief and he hadn’t even wanted to know her name at the time, though she had given it on the two occasions she had visited him. He barely remembered her face.

“Marla. I know,” Seyla’s expression was sour. Usually, Orions didn’t care much about exclusivity; the more men she bedded, the greater her influence. For Seyla, the more men, the more income she had. Except where Suresh was involved.

“What’s wrong?” He caught the look and it made him curious.

Cocking her head to the side, she looked back at him curiously. “Really? You have to ask? Why does sharing with Darwin irk you, Suresh?”

He waved that aside. “She meant nothing. If she had, I’d have been more inclined to remember her.” But the fact that Seyla was jealous pleased him. “End it with Darwin, Sey. For me.”

“And your slave? What will you do with her? If I end it with Darwin, will you get rid of her?”

“Do you want to put her to work?”

“You know I can’t do that. One word to the wrong client and the fact that she’s an unwilling slave would go straight back to Security,” she shook her head. “I’m not interested in having a tour of the Brig. I have a feeling that Zeferino would be happy to see my paperwork ‘lost’.”

“I’d be happy to see Zeferino lost,” Suresh added. “Along with Darwin and Gilroy.” The talk of station personnel reminded him, however. “How well do you know the station officers?”

“Depends upon which officers you mean. The higher ups? I keep tabs on them. Information is part of my trade,” she smiled slightly. “The peons? Not so much. Dar and Gilroy aren’t peons, not really. You do know that those two are Zeferino’s right hand men, right?”

“I know better than anyone, after the night they hauled me out of the Nexus and tried to hospitalize me for the night for the sake of my mental health.” HIs tone was harsh, but then it eased. “I’m curious about one of the higher-ups that I saw dancing that night at the Nexus. Tall, lot of brass, white hair. Betazoid eyes.”

“Lot of brass?” She thought about that. “Well, there’s two Admirals - one is Rick Wegener, El Aurian; the other is... tsk, what was his name...?” Tapping her lip with a finger, she went to her desk and pulled up a file. “Oh, Hawke. Is this who you mean?” She turned the screen towards him, showing a candid shot of Admiral Hawke. To the right of him was a pretty brunette whose family ties to the Admiral were obvious in the features of her face.

“That’s him. Red-headed lady is who he was dancing with.” Suresh’s gut tightened as he looked at the young woman with the Admiral. Her smile, so like the Admiral’s, took his breath away. “But who is that with him?”

“Her? Oh, his daughter. Also, the new Exec here on the Station. From what I’ve heard, she got promoted from within. Makes me wonder how much of the ‘within’ was from Daddy Hawke.” Seyla turned the screen back towards her and closed the file, oblivious to Suresh’s sudden interest.

So familiar was that smile.... “Oh?” He purposely kept his tone casual. “What was she before?”

“I don’t know; she’s a bit of a mystery. Which that, in and of itself, makes me think she was some sort of intelligence person.” Seyla shrugged. “So, again, what to do with Jade?”

Suresh’s thought were instantly a maelstrom. Intel? Could it be? Surely not. But her smile....he shook his head, trying to clear it. Seyla had asked him something, he needed to answer. “Jade? I suppose I could just re-sell her, but that will be a week at least before the next run.”

“I’ll bet Tog would love to have someone to rub his earlobes,” Seyla suggested.

“It would get her out of my quarters,” Suresh agreed. I’ll speak to him when he returns, he’s away for a day or two on business. But you have my word, Sey, not a touch.” There was no danger of that with Jade. Suresh had some sudden new business to take care of that would keep him occupied for the next several days.

“Good. Then... what next? With no Darwin for me and no Jade for you...,” she looked him up and down and smiled. Even though she’d just come from Darwin’s bed, she was interested in taking Suresh to her bed. At least this time, she’d make sure she gasped out the correct name. “Perhaps we should test out whatever our new status is. Do we have a new status?”

“That is the question, isn’t it?” He drained his glass, left it on the bar and began his approach to Seyla, slow and deliberate, his eyes never leaving hers.

She watched him come towards her then, just before he touched her, she asked, “Have you noticed I haven’t been seducing you tonight?”

“I have. I think we needed to get to the heart of things with clear heads. Thank you.” He leaned down, resting his hands on either side of her on the back of the sofa, effectively closing her in. “Perhaps you’d like to start now?”

“As you wish,” she said as the soft fragrance rose from her.

****************

Suresh
Hit With The Light Of Recognition

Seyla
Casting Light Into Darkness