Something to Celebrate

Posted on Thu May 19th, 2011 @ 6:45am by Commander Oralia Zeferino & https://starbase900.info/index.php/personnel/character/23

Mission: The Ties That Bind
Location: His Quarters/Her Quarters
Timeline: Current

"Connor, c'mon," Oralia barely spoke the words as she stared at Connor's door. She wanted him to hurry up and let her in; it wasn't that he was being slow, it was that she was hyped up, hyper and moving a little faster than others. She wasn't overly-caffeinated, she was simply excited.

Ever since the Admiral had appointed her as the CSEC of the base, she'd been working - practically non-stop - to get a grasp for the department and its personnel. It wasn't easy and she'd already talked things over with Gilroy several times. Likely, he'd end up being in charge of a shift, or something. He didn't want to be assistant chief, had made that clear enough. He didn't want the headaches of being in charge like that. The 'base was big - bigger than the Montreal or the Berkeley, even put together - and had the main spire and two arms.... If Oralia stopped to think about it the way Gilroy had, she'd have been terrified of the job.

Finally, she heard Connor's voice inside granting her entry and, as the door slid open (all too slowly for her taste), she bounded in. "Connor! Lookit!" She grinned at him and quickly hugged him, not even letting him look at what she wanted him to see: the pips on her collar.

Wearing pajama bottoms, his hair in a mess, Connor smiled back in surprise, "Look at what?", he chuckled, with his arms pinned down.

"This," she leaned back a little and, if she hadn't grabbed her collar, he might have thought she was presenting her boobs to him. "I haven't had time to come and tell you till now, but with Harrison staying with the Berkeley, the Admiral appointed me as Chief and promoted me."

Leaning in, he kissed her, pulling his face away only far away enough to look into her eyes and to say, "Congratulations..", he kissed her again, "That's wonderful news...", kissed her again, "So, how do we celebrate?"

"Quickly? Naked? With dinner and some wine?" her eyes sparkled as she grinned and she ran her hands through his hair. "How would you celebrate this?"

"Hmmm..." his eyes closed momentarily as his body responded to her hands, his own hands slipping under her shirt, "All three...", he sighed, looking back to her, his voice barely above a whisper, "I can't believe I am saying this but... not in that order. Dinner 'n' some wine...'n' then whatever your heart desires."

"Okay. Let me change, otherwise I might get called upon to do something security-ish," she kissed him, partially pulling away and adding, "That'll give you time to shower and dress." She could see how convenient it'd have been if they lived together. For one, she could have told him her news much sooner; for another, to change, all she'd have had to do was go in the other room.

"Okay.." he pulled out his hands from under her top, bringing them to hold her head as he kissed her one more time. "I'll pick you up!" he shouted as he headed into his bedroom.

She left and jogged the distance back to her own quarters. It was surprisingly far. Once inside, she fed Iggy (Gilroy had been a doll and made certain an engineer set up Iggy's terrarium while Oz was busy introducing herself to her new department) and ran through a shower and into a dark teal bombshell of a dress. She was just pinning her hair up when the door chimed.

The doors slid open, revealing Connor in dark jeans, a dark blue button down shirt, and a black dinner jacket; one hand behind his back. "Wow", he angled his head as he checked her out, his eyes drinking in every sexy inch of her. With a subdued flourish, Connor presented Oralia with what he had behind his back, "For the one you left on my desk.." carefully placing a white magnolia behind her ear, "For the one you left on my sofa...", another one placed carefully along side it, "..'n' for the one.." he added, leaning in holding the flower between them, "...left on my pillow...or should I say 'your pillow'?"

She closed the distance and kissed him. "It's on your bed, it's your pillow," she smiled, not realizing how cutting the comment could be, "Did you intend to have dinner out somewhere on the 'base or here? 'Cause I have a kitchen now." Too bad she didn't know what to do with it. She did know one thing to do in a kitchen and, taking the magnolia from his hand, went over to it and replicated a vase with water. She left the flower in it on the counter.

Feeling mildly put off by her pillow comment, Connor stiffened, placing his hands in his pockets, and his eyes following her. With a pressed together smile, he shrugged, "Up to you, your celebration..."

"Hey, don't you have your own celebrating to do, Lieutenant?" She cozy-ed up to him, hugging him close. "And just think, now we have a whole Starbase to explore together."

Catching the 'we' and the 'together', his eyes studied hers, and proceeded to roam over her beautiful face. It was that moment he finally admitted to himself he loved her. "There's this little cafe I heard about..." he said, his mind obviously somewhere else.

"Sounds like a plan, Dr. McKinney," she kissed him again, trying to pull him back from wherever else he was. "Your head is somewhere else. What's wrong?"

"Uh...", he closed his eyes for a moment, placing his hands on her shoulders as he reopened them, "Nothing's wrong", he smiled, breathing in hard to calm his nerves. "I'm... hungry, so...", he grabbed her hand, and began leading her towards the door, "...how about we get to celebrating."

"Okay," she readily agreed and, as they headed for the cafe he'd heard about, had eyes only for him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lt. Connor McKinney
Star-struck in love

Lt. Cmdr. Oralia Zeferino
Obliviously in denial