Coming Back

Posted on Wed Jun 23rd, 2021 @ 4:26pm by Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*) & Johnathan Anderson Junior

Mission: Ishimura
Location: USS Ishimura
Timeline: 2343
927 words - 1.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Johnathan stood outside the door he knew so well. It was the door to Ensign Ka'see McAvoy's, Science Technician, private quarters. The last time he was here, was the night they had spent together, before he had been ordered away on a secret mission. It tore him apart, everyday, worrying what she must've thought about his abrupt leaving.

They had finally started to move past the fact that she had married another man, though just for tradition - not love. And they had fallen back into their prior relationship. It was the happiest he had been, to be reunited with the woman he loved.

Then the orders came down, and he had to leave immediately, with no explanation to anyone, save for the Captain.

It had been a difficult mission, he had nearly died, mire than once. But here, now....this would be far more difficult. He hoped that she would understand. He hoped that she would forgive him.

Most of all....he hoped that she would still love him.

Taking a deep breath, to steady his screaming nerves, he reached up and pressed the door chime.

Cassie looked up from where she sat in her bed getting ready for a night in the crew bar with Ryder and his room mate. She called out an enter and added. “I’m running late Ryder. I will be there in a moment.” She said doing her shoes up.

When the door opened, Johnathan stepped inside, and froze, both from seeing Cassie again, and from hearing her call out another person's name. In a quiet voice, full of emotion, he said, "Hey, Cas."

Cassie looked up from doing up the old fashioned boot and looked at him stunned to see him stood there in the flesh. She had not heard hide nor hair of him since the day she had missed his transport when he left. “Well… hello.” She answered slowly rising to feet with one shoe on.

There were so many things he wanted to say to her, so many things he wanted to do. Right now, though, Ensign Johnathan Quincy Anderson Junior, daredevil shuttle and starfighter pilot and both former and returning junior helmsman for the USS Ishimura, had an apology to make to the woman he loved. "Cas...I've missed you terribly. I know...I know you're probably angry with me, over how abruptly I left you. Please, if you never believe another word that I say, believe this....I had no choice but to leave. Orders came down from the Admiralty. The only two people on the Ishimura that knew, was the Captain and myself. A rescue mission was put together, Admiral Archer was kidnapped by some Klingon pirates. And the Federation Council didn't want to enflame things to start a war. But, the Admiralty had other ideas. So, a handful of officers and crew, from around the entire fleet, were recalled and sent out to bring Archer back home."

He slowly dropped to his knees before her, fully exhausted from the long ordeal. "Fact of the matter is. I'm sorry, and I love you."

“I see.” Cassie murmured and looked at him. “You look like hell.” She murmured the human expression with a strange look on her face as she tried to put her thoughts into order that one Archer of all people had been taken but also that he was there.

Keeping his bloodshot eyes on the woman who owned his heart, Johnathan sagged a little more, his energy reserves finally running on empty. "I haven't..haven't slept in about four days. I've been in a Hawk, on full Impulse to gey back here. He suddenly realized why everyone had given him a wide berth on his way up here. He also, just as suddenly, with his exhausted brain, tgat he really must be offending Cassie's highly sensitive sense of smell. "I-I-I...I'm sorry....I shouldve gotten cleaned up first." His eyes fell to the deck in front of him, as his arms started to feel like lead weights. "I'm...I'm sorry, my love." His last words were bare whispers. He started to think that it qas a mistake barging in here. What right did he have to expect anything from her. Orders or not, he just vanished from her life one day. He would never know what that seperation had done to her. If he could crawl into a hole and just die, it would be better. Or, more accurately, had he just died while on the mission, it would have been better for Cassie, his angel, his love.

“Stop. Go and get some sleep. We can talk when you are rested. I have to meet some… friends.” She admitted with a shrug. It was something that she could not miss at all. Things had changed on the ship that meant she had to be there.

Realizing, in his exhausted brain, that he was too late, Johnathan slowly climbed back to his feet. He was a little unsteady now, all of a sudden. He caught himself against her desk. Of course, she had moved on. Why wouldn't she? He never deserved her anyway, as she was way above his level. "O-okay." He hung his head and turned to leave. "I'm sorry, Cassie." He whispered as he stumbled back out of her cabin. Maybe, after he slept and got cleaned up, he should start looking for any other open assignments. He wouldn't want to cause Cassie any more pain by staying if she was happy with someone else. She deserved to be happy.