Dancing About

Posted on Wed Jan 9th, 2013 @ 6:16pm by Ensign Ian Bren & Jackson Banning V

* * * The Nexus Club * * *

After leaving Sickbay and Doc Harding, Jackson did a quick change at home, kissed Oz soundly, then hurried off to the Nexus. After all the excitement, he’d given Eli the night off, though he wondered at the wisdom of the young man having coffee with Seyla. However, if anyone was safe with her, it was likely Eli. Jackson had witnessed her protective streak where he was concerned and he had to admit he was grateful, especially when Eli went down below the equator.

Now, he strolled in just as Janice was starting the early set and greeted Vic at the bar. Vic passed him his usual glass of lemonade, this one innocent and he leaned against the end of the bar as he sipped and surveyed the crowd.

Ian Bren had practically been in hiding since his last, very memorable appearance in the Nexus. But this night, he decided to go out for a bit of fun. While his friends, the Teds, took a table and ordered half a dozen different plates of food, he approached the bar and, armed still with the knowledge of the Bren symbiont, greeted Jackson, “Hello, friend.” At the last moment, he’d switched from ‘lover’ to friend.

“Evenin’ Ian.” Jackson lowered his glass and smiled at the young man. “How’ve ya been? Haven’t see ya around here of late but glad yer back. Buy ya a drink?”

“That’s an offer I won’t refuse!” The younger man grinned. “Not that I’d refuse many offers from you, nor have I... at least... the old Bren didn’t.”

“Uh yeah.” Jackson motioned to Vic and ordered two lemonades, the juiced up version, as he met Ian’s gaze. He waited till the drinks arrived, then handed one to Ian. “My own concoction, I think you’ll like it. So drink up and tell me how you’re settlin’ in. I’ve heard it can be rough at the beginnin’.”

"After the start we had? It’s all been a cakewalk since, whatever that means," Ian paused, looking confused.after moment, he grinned, "Oh, I get it! Funny saying, anyway. But Bren and I have been communicating far more easily now. And it's interesting to know the other hosts' stories."

“I can imagine. Natalia alone had a lot to tell.” Jackson hesitated a moment before leaning a little closer. “Which means that now you know about the Briar Patch incident.”

"Oh, yes." Ian sipped his lemonade. He didn't elaborate. "With Natalia being the most recent, her memories are much easier to access," he slid a look over Jackson, leaning back slightly to catch Jackson's ass in his perusal.

“That has to stay between us, Ian, and Doc Harding. A dangerous bit of knowledge that is. And I saw that.” Jackson reached for his glass to take a sip.

Mimicking him, Ian sipped his as well. “I’m not exactly going to shout it from the general announcement comm. But why does it need to remain a secret?”

“Strictly classified for too many reasons to tell ya here, but mainly for my own safety. It would make me one hell of a target, ya gotta admit.” Jackson smiled. “And I had enough trouble when Natalia had me kidnapped and got shot up.”

“Hmm. I can see how some might want to use you as a lab rat. Oh..., right, that would have been Natalia. Least you don’t have to worry about that from me,” he grinned slyly. “Most you have to worry about from me is a few stray comments about your prowess. Always out of Commander Zeferino’s hearing, of course.”

Jackson blinked and considered how to answer that. “Of course. I’m not so sure how she’d react to it, given you once were Natalia, now a man. Double whammy, not that there’s anything wrong with you bein’ a man. Just.....two people bein’ a temptation that aren’t her, ya know?”

Ian’s grin blossomed and grew wider. “I’m a temptation?”

“That, my friend, is a complicated question all around.” And one Jackson wasn’t sure he could answer. “I bet you can guess why.”

“Little bit, yeah. I’m all of the good of Natalia, none of the bad.” He tilted his glass towards Jackson. “Guess you’d be doubly damned if I were female.”

Jackson ran a hand over his mouth and finally shook his head. “Nah, I think that would be easier, actually. Another woman wouldn’t be able to stand up to everything I’ve felt for Oz for so long. You? You’re not ‘another woman’ and what’s in you is someone I was very close to and never really worked through before....all this.” He clinked his glass to Ian’s. “As Woodford would say.....” He stopped and rolled his eyes. Woodford would’ve said to hell with it and dragged Ian out of the bar already. “Never mind what Woody would say.”

“All right, I won’t ask the infamous Woodford what he would say.” Ian laughed, silently guessing that Jackson’s brother’s advice would be racy, at a minimum.

“So, my brother aside, what do ya have planned for tonight?” He motioned to Vic for another round. “I’m not keepin’ ya from the Teds am I?”

“Eh... I see them just about every day. You, though,” Ian flirted with the club owner, “I rarely get to see. Any news on the Chance situation?”

How to answer that one? Jackson licked his lips and decided to bypass any real information other than the culprit. “They found the one who killed him. He was waiting for Eli in his apartment when he went home and Eli read it in his head. Security has him now.”

“Good job, Security!” Ian toasted the absent folks. “It’s good that she’ll get justice on that.”

“Yeah.” Jackson nodded. “It’s been really hard on Eli though. I’ll be glad when it’s over, I’ll say that. He needs to be able to get on with his life.”

The Trill paused a moment before nodding to some internal conversation. “Losing a loved one so young when one is so young..., such a shame. But he’ll bounce back; the young always seem to do so,” Ian spoke like an old man - fitting for one who had a hundred year old symbiont in his belly.

“I hope so, Bren, god I hope so.” Jackson shook the ice cubes in his glass. “So many things to deal with lately it seems, some more pleasant than others. You got your hands full too I hear with tryin’ to get Li and the Admiral back.”

“It’s nuts!” Ian exclaimed. “Get them back and put the Commander’s ‘other’ wife and kid back in that world. At least we have the signature of the world she’s from. Word is we’re taking the Hammond out, though just what we’ll be doing isn’t yet public knowledge.”

“Good luck with that, I don’t envy ya one bit.” Jackson set his glass aside and picked up the new one. “But I’ve been there, not specifically this, but in dangerous spots before. I just hope it works, whatever ‘it’ is.”

“Same here,” he agreed. “Well, I’d better head over to the table, before the Teds eat all the food.” Ian laughed, raised his glass to Jackson and turned to go.

“Hey Ian?” Jackson reached out, resting a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Yeah?” He turned.

“Don’t be a stranger, okay?” He gave Ian’s shoulder a squeeze. “I know what it’s like needin’ someone around that means somethin’ to ya.”

“Thanks,” he smiled and patted the hand on his shoulder.

***********
Jackson Banning V
Owner & Someone Special
The Nexus Club

Ian Bren
Knowledgeable
SB900 Sciences