Bella Believes In Santa Claus

Posted on Wed Jan 30th, 2013 @ 5:54pm by Suresh & Seyla

Mission: The Struggle Within
Location: Seyla's Quarters

* * * Seyla’s Quarters * * *

Bella keyed the entry code into the door panel of Seyla’s quarters and strolled inside. She’d had a full night and now, all she wanted was to sit down and have a drink or three. Everywhere she’d been tonight all she’d heard from the Fleeties was talk of some ship, she forgot the name already, making some portal and racing off to rescue the Admiral and the XO from some other dimension. It was all so technical and complicated enough to make her head hurt on one hand, and bore her to tears on the other. Her last appointment had just come off shift from the science department. He said he’d been working on this for the last twenty hours and he still wouldn’t shut up about it.

Bella groaned aloud. She’d decided early in that the translator must’ve stopped working because she couldn’t understand a single thing he’d said. Science talk interrupted by moans now and then and Bella had given up all pretense of understanding. She’d finally put her finger to his lips and ended the lecture with “don’t talk, just fuck.” The evening had ended satisfactorily after that.

Thank goodness he was her last for the night. She settled down on the sofa with a glass of the first alcoholic thing she could find, kicked off her shoes and propped her bare feet on the coffee table. She let her mind go blank, which for Bella wasn’t a difficult undertaking.

Emerging from her private chambers, Seyla finished tying her robe closed and smirked at what was possibly her least intelligent employee. “Rough night, Bella?”

“And how. Wanna drink Sey? It’s been one helluva night. Why do you always give me the science guys?” Bella stopped and waved at the bottle on the table by her feet. “Who’d you have tonight?”

“You get them because you don’t waste time trying to discuss science with them. You tell them to shut up and get to business, which means you spend less time with each,” a bonus for Seyla since Bella’s services were charged per service, not by the hour, “and can move on to the next. As for my schedule, don’t ask, sweetie.” She moved to the bar and poured herself a drink. “Anything interesting from the science boy?”

“Everyone’s all a-twitter over some ship taking off to rescue the Admiral and the XO. Other than that, I don’t have a clue what came out of his mouth besides ‘ohhhhhhh GOD’ and some four letter words.” Bella grinned at Seyla. “At least when he could talk. After, he wasn’t even sure of his own name.”

Off to rescue the Admiral and XO? That meant Suresh and Darwin, too. Seyla smiled. “Good. If they succeed, then we’ll be back at status quo and everything will go back to normal.” She hoped. Things lately had been too... eventful.

“And that means he’s gonna expect you to live up to what you promised him about not seeing Darwin.” The door chime sounded and completely derailed Bella’s train of thought. She rose to her feet and started for the door. “You sit, honey, I’ll shoo away whoever it is.”

Doing as ‘ordered’, Seyla curled onto the sofa, letting Bella get the door.

Bella opened the door to find a large bouquet of flowers with legs. It took a few seconds to process as she leaned in to sniff the lovely perfume of the flowers.

“Wow! Hey Sey, look at this.”

“Hi Bella,” said a male voice from behind the blossoms. “Should I bring these in?”

“Oh, sure!” She stood aside to let the delivery man in. “Who’re they for?”

The young man stepped in and turned his head to smile at her as he passed. “For Seyla.”

"From whom?" Seyla asked as the man set the bouquet on the table before her. Which of her clients would have done this? Thinking on the matter, she only half-listened to the man's answer (a non commital shrug and mumbled "I dunno").

“Ohhhhh! A secret admirer!” Bella was suddenly enthusiastic. “Who do you think it is, Sey? Maybe Suresh left orders? Or maybe it’s that one fellow who has the usual weekend time?” She turned her gaze on the delivery man. “Are you sure you don’t know?”

“I swear Bella. And the florist isn’t talking.”

The bouquet , a mass of deep purple delphiniums and vividly yellow golden wattle flowers, competed with Seyla's pheromones to scent the room's air. "They are lovely," the madame commented and dismissed the delivery boy with a nod. But who sent them? She wasn't a fan of mysteries, certainly not of this kind. "I have no idea who would have sent these, Bella."

Bella stopped to examine the flowers and noted there was no card. “Yeah, no card. Whoever sent them didn’t cheap out, that’s for sure.” A sudden thought struck her, however. “Ohhh, what are you going to do with them when Suresh gets home? He’ll go nuts and you know it.”

"If he comes home," she scoffed. "More likely, Zeferino will have him in the Brig. He'll never see these." She smiled as she pulled a delphinium from the bunch and laced it into her hair behind her ear.

Bella’s eyes widened. “What’ll you do then? Without him I mean.” Bella moved back to the sofa and sat, then reached for her drink. “I know you’ve got a soft spot for him. At least Marla says so.”

“I’ll do what I’ve always done, Bella. I’ll go on. The business will keep on. You’ll keep on fucking the scientists; I’ll keep on taking care of the sensitive ones,” she settled on the sofa again. “Suresh’s absence won’t affect us. Indeed, it might be good for business,” Seyla thought about the power void his absence would create; who better to fill it than her?

“You’ll miss him. And he’ll go crazy without you. Well, crazier.” It was Bella’s less than enlightened opinion that Suresh had a few screws loose. Still, she’d seen the way he looked at Seyla, how possessive he was and she wished someone was like that about her. And now, someone was sending her flowers to boot. “Must be nice.” Eyeing the flowers, another thought struck her. “Maybe it’s Santa Claus, just a little late.”

“Excuse me?” Seyla leaned towards Bella a touch. “Santa Claws? Who is he?”

“Santa Claus. C-l-a--” Bella stopped as she tried to spell it and frowned. “Claus. I think it has a u in it. Not like claws.” She held her hands up, fingernails bared like a cat. “On Earth, he came around at Christmas to bring presents to the kids, but only if they were good.”

“Well, that solves that: I’m neither good nor a kid. Santa Claus wouldn’t bring me anything.” She shrugged. “The sender will out himself. Eventually. He’ll want credit for the flowers and you can probably guess how he’ll want that credit paid.”

Bella frowned. “I dunno, Sey. People don’t usually send flowers to hookers for that reason. Or at all, really. Especially the older ones. The young ones? Maybe.” Her eyes widened suddenly. “OH! Maybe it’s Eli.”

Especially the older ones. The older one gave Bella the evil eye. “Eli? Jackson’s ward? No, this isn’t like Eli. Besides, he’s busy with the Chance Conradi business. Did any of yours this evening mention that?”

“No.” Bella shook her head. “But to be honest, I kinda tuned them out, you know?”

“Yes, doing just what you’re paid to do,” she sighed and considered the time. If she had it right, Eli’s hopes would be in progress already.

Bella picked up her glass and had a drink. “Well, good luck with your admirer. Even if it isn’t Santa Claus.” She gave a soft sigh. “Maybe one day I’ll have one. An admirer, that is, not Santa. He’s nice and all, but hot he certainly isn’t.”

“You have admirers, Bella. None are sending you gifts, but if you dropped hints, you’d likely find sweet little things given to you or left behind for you.”

“Maybe so.” Bella rose and carried both glasses back over to the bar to refill them. “I can’t wait to see who it is, and if he sends more.” She returned and handed Seyla her glass. “Good luck with it.”

“Oh, luck won’t be needed. Just a little time is all. I’m going to take a shower. I have another client in an hour. Make yourself at home.” Seyla drained her glass and stood. “If Marla comes in, tell her she needs to attend to the accounts book.”

“I will. And before I forget, that new girl’s due in tomorrow. Coming up from Archadia, but Marla said she’d take care of it.”

“Good. I’ll meet her before she goes on her first date.” Seyla paused a moment and looked at the bouquet again. “Beautiful. I wonder why these flowers, though, if there’s a reason.”

“All flowers are supposed to mean something, ask the computer? It might be interesting.” Bella smiled. “And might be a clue.”

“Oh, come on...,” Seyla gave Bella a look that questioned Bella’s sanity. But the woman had a point, and Seyla was the one who’d brought up the language of flowers. “The flowers could have been chosen at random. Computer, in the language of flowers, what are delphinium and golden wattle?”

=^=Delphinium: levity, fun, joy or ardent attachment; golden wattle, also known as acacia: secret love,=^= the computer answered after a moment’s hesitation.

“Well, that answers so much,” Seyla’s tone was filled with sarcasm as she disappeared into her private quarters. Calling back, she said, “Showering!”

“Have fun with that.” Bella went back to her drink, now pondering the computer’s words. Some thought almost rose to the surface in her mind, then vanished. It had almost come but as she tried to get hold of it, it skittered farther away until she gave up and went back to her drink.

______________
Seyla
Showered and Showering

Bella
Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree, for me...