Around The Maze Part 8

Posted on Wed Apr 1st, 2020 @ 5:41pm by Commodore Ledeya ‘Ed’ Ehestri (*) & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers

Mission: Cosmos
Location: Starbase 621
Timeline: 2396
2613 words - 5.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Lake put the finishing touches on the room. He might have heard one of the nurses giggle as she walked by but he didn't care. He was so nervous and hoped Ledeya liked it.

There was a blanket on the floor that held a selection of food, two pillows for them to sit on. There were candles lighting the place, not real ones of course, he didn't want to set off the fire suppressant systems. It was kind of like an evening picnic, in a very strange spot. But since they had spent so much time there and he couldn't exactly break into her quarters. He'd had a nurse send Ledeya a message to meet her in Sickbay.

Ledeya walked in looking concerned but stopped dead as she was pointed to the isolation chamber and stopped dead as took in everything. "Lake what is going on?" She wondered.

"A little surprise. I hope you don't mind. I couldn't exactly do this in your quarters so I picked another spot, not where we met but where we got to know each other a little bit. I promise the doors will remain open at all times, don't want to get us locked in here again," He grinned at her.

The woman wanted to rage, wanted to be annoyed but she found her self breaking into a smile and moving forward just a little. She glanced back and saw that the corridor door was closed and the lighting dark. There was no one watching. "I do not think I would mind so much this time." She admitted.

"Okay, good." Lake replied. "Sit wherever you like. Would you like some Bajoran spring wine?" He showed her a glass and the bottle in his hands.

"I would love some wine," Ledeya said moving to take her shoes and lab coat off and leave them by the door. She moved over to help and sat down taking the offered glass.

"So," Lake said after she'd had a seat. "How was your day?" That sounded incredibly dumb to him but after doing all this he suddenly found himself speechless in her presence.

"Busy. Chasing gas around your base." The woman said smiling a little as she looked at the man wearing something other than his uniform. She suddenly had an idea. "Don't move. Ten minutes," she promised as she dived up heading to the replicator and grabbing something before disappearing into the bathroom.

"Uh, yes Ma'am." Lake said surprised by her sudden amusement and her dashing around then into the bathroom. He made a mental note to tell her she didn't have to change. Actually her uniform looked quite nice on her and he honestly didn't care what she was wearing.

The woman returned barely nine minutes later looking cleaner wearing a black knee-length dress. It wasn't revealing or anything other than simple but it was comfortable. "So where were we?" She wondered picking up her glass taking a sip. It was a perfect spring wine.

"Me making an idiot out of myself by trying to think of what to say. So you provided the perfect distraction. And you look beautiful. Food? Just some finger foods, brie, crackers, bits of fruit. I honestly don't know what food you like to eat. I've not eaten much Betazoid food."

“I have lived among humans for a very long time.” She picked up cheese and crackers and made a happy face at the taste. “Perfect.”

"Well it's not," Lake said chuckling. "But thank you for saying so. I'm a terrible cook, any future children we have will have to rely on you for food." He started laughing again, "I'm kidding about the kids, don't phaser me."

Ledeya just shook her head. "Cheese and crackers are my perfect meal. Quick, easy, delicious. There is not bad here." The woman assured savouring the moment after spending the day getting back to her roots with medicine.

He simply smiled and sipped his wine. "I'm glad you came. I know you're unsure about things but this is lovely, being here with you. Is there anything you'd like to do sometime, together?"

"Well, I was tricked into coming here by Ensign Drica and her husband." Ledeya reminded him before she sat up a little straighter. "Lake? I do not know where this is going but I am leaving soon." The woman admitted softly. She was only there to help contain the situation.

"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't be staying forever. I might have a solution to that. I was kind of thinking . . . . maybe, I could go with you? Apply for a cartographer position on Cosmos? I mean I'm a good officer, and we'd be able to see each other once in a while."

Ledeya stopped drinking and looked at him carefully. "You cannot want to follow me?" Did he not have a life on the base? What could she offer him exactly?

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?" Lake said with a bit of a stupid grin still on his face, trying to understand where she was coming from.

"How can you be so certain?" The woman wondered turning to look at him properly trying to understand how he could be so sure that he wanted this, he wanted to attempt something.

"I . . ." Lake put some serious thought into it for a moment, setting down his wine glass. "I just am. Something napped in me when I ran into you that day. Now you're just engraved in my brain and my heart. Maybe you're telekinesis powers broke something in me," he joked a little bit. "Ledeya, relax, I'm not asking anything of you other than to let me come on board your ship."

Ledeya was concerned that something had indeed broke in her. “If it’s just a ship I can get you on a much better ship than Cosmos.”

"No, I want to follow you," Lake said frowning. Did he have to spell it out for her? "I'm crazy about you. I was trying not to freak you out though. You're very guarded. I just want to be near you, talk, laugh . . . . maybe you can use me as a pillow when you need to."

"I am guarded because I am not usually... I do not usually do things like this." Ledeya did not date as a fact, had not in a decade since she and Ranav had fallen out and called it quits on their engagement.

"Yeah," Lake responded quietly. "I know. So . . . just give it some thought. No reason to keep thinking about it right now though. We can just have a nice relaxing evening, release the stresses of the day. I made brownies too."

Ledeya frowned but nodded as she settled down to lying on one of the pillows taking the man in properly. It was not like her to do something like this, she never reacted like this to a person never ever did this type of thing. What was it about this man that made her want to take a risk with everything she had ever known. "So tell me four things about yourself?" She prompted.

"Hmm," Lake pondered for a moment. "Just four random things huh? Let's see. I like birds, any kind of birds really, I just find them really interesting. I think the best thing in the world to eat are fresh strawberries and if I can find some seeds I'm going to grow you some. I would like to learn to dance, thinking about that makes me blush and I can't look at you when I say it. And . . . I love my job. I get to find new life, new systems, it's the best feeling in the world."

He was adorable, it was so easy to smile with him and she found herself doing it more and more. "My four. I drink far too much coffee, I can play the guitar really quite well but no one barely knows that. My favourite colour is purple because you rarely see it in places and I love nothing more in the word that sitting in a dark room staring at the stars."

"Well if you're done eating, I can show you my lab. That didn't sound right . . .," he gave a nervous laugh. "I mean because we could see stars, even up close, in the dark."

The woman laughed. It was light and soft. She had known what he meant and that amused her even more. "Well, I guess I am done." The woman grinned and moved to help him tidy up a bit before she allowed him to lead the way.

He liked seeing her so relaxed. He realized it might not always stay this way and seemed constantly worrying about overstepping her boundaries, he wasn't even going to try to kiss her tonight unless she made the first move. "Right this way m'lady. Little bit of a walk, but not bad. I'm glad you wore sensible shoes." He joked as he took her hand and led her out of sickbay. He thought he could feel her heart beating through her hand, or maybe it was just his pulse he was feeling. He was pretty nervous at the moment.

Ledeya followed silently and followed him into the lab looking around interested. "Can't say I have been in one of these for a while."

"Ah well it's the best place in the world to be." He guided her to a chair and then tapped a few controls, making a huge mass of nebula with stars appear in front of them. Then he moved the image picking out a few that he moved into the center view, almost placing them in her lap. "Except when I'm with you of course."

"Flirt." The woman grinned a little in his direction as she got to look at a nebula in detail. It was beautiful and made her automatically reach out to touch it but her hand obviously went through.

Lake snorted, "I was trying to be romantic." He took a seat on a stool nearby . "So what view do you like the most? A view from Betazed?"

"Yes. Can I show you?" The woman wondered taking the controls and typing in a reference point. The stars changed and they showed a sky to the Betazoid that was so familiar it hurt.

Lake stepped back letting her take the controls. "Beautiful," he said glancing at the stars for only a moment and then looking at her. She looked sad though. "Hey . . . you could always go home, for a break," he suggested.

"I do not go home often and when I do it is to help with the relief effort." It was hard to believe that twenty years on there were still parts of the jewel of the Federation that were so badly damaged.

"While that's a wonderful thing to do. Sometimes I think we need to go home just to see it. Sit and be with our thoughts a bit." Lake put both of his hands on her shoulders as he moved behind her. "Not try to save the universe for a while."

"I cannot remember the last time I ever relaxed." The woman whispered feeling the warmth through the thin material of her dress.

"Yeah, I thought that might be the answer," Lake said honestly. She was a very tense person, he understood her reasons for it. He began to move his hands over her shoulders and down her back, using light pressure with his fingers. "This is why it's a good idea to have someone like me around to plan things that help you take the universe off your shoulders for a bit."

"You are very determined to be that someone," Ledeya commented looking over her shoulder. It was a wondering expression.

He thought about how to respond to that. "If you wanted me to be. Because I certainly want the job."

Ledeya slowly stood to her feet, watching his hands fall to his side and move around to where he stood. They needed to be level. She slowly stepped closer to him. "It is a big job." She said carefully.

He laughed, actually it came out more as a giggle but she was making him nervous now. "I had noticed that."

Ledeya found his nervous amusing and slowly stepped up to him and tugged his chin down to her. "Kiss me," She begged, tone soft and pleading.

He did not need to be told twice. He grabbed her pulling her the rest of the way to him and kissed her passionately, not tentatively like before. He had no idea how much time had passed before he came up for air. "I love you," he admitted. "Please tell me I can still follow you around like a lost puppy."

The woman was slightly taken aback by his words. It was unexpected from someone who thought themselves pretty unloveable. "You can follow but I am not sure how this will work." She admitted not moving away from him or taking her hands away from where they were playing with the hair at his neck.

"That's okay. We can take things slow and figure it out as we go along." Lake answered honestly. It was okay with him.

Ledeya liked the idea of slow and stumbling if she was honest. It was going to be rough if she was honest with herself. Things were not normal around her and she had an important job to do that left her restless and yearning for something that she could not find. "Okay."

Lake smiled. "Things will be okay, we just have to be a little patient with each other." He knew he wasn't going to be able to stop grinning for days now. He reached up and ran his fingers through wisps of her hair that weren't pulled up.

Ledeya nodded. She could be patient, his fingers in her hair though made her turn her head towards him and close her eyes in contentment. It was an enjoyable feeling despite resisting the urge to kiss him again.

"Do you need to use me as a pillow again tonight?" Lake grinned. "Come on, I'll clean up our mess in quarantine and we can figure out where to go from there."

"I have to go back to the cosmos tonight. I will see you tomorrow?" She needed to check in with her crew and find out what they had discovered from assisting the starbase. She needed to get her Captain head back on instead of playing Chief Medical Officer.

"Yes. Got Captiny stuff to do I'm sure." He held up a finger. "One goodnight kiss?"

Ledeya grinned and nodded stepping into the space pulling his hands to her waist before she tugged him down pressing her lips against his.

It was more than he expected. "Promise me you'll get some sleep after you do all the captain stuff?" Lake asked as he pulled away from her before things got out of hand.

"Cross my heart." She assured crossing over her heart on the opposite side of where humans would be.

"Good," Lake kissed her once more, used one hand to brush his fingers over her hair and then pulled away from her or he was never going to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow then," he said as he turned to walk back to sickbay.

Ledeya allowed him to leave despite how much she was to draw him back and allow him to go further. "Bye." She called after and smiled. What was she doing?

OFF::

Lieutenant Lakeland Brown
Stellar Cartographer
SB 621
(PNPC Bowers)

Commodore Ledeya ‘Ed’ Ehestri
Commanding Officer
USS Cosmos / TG 72-B
(PNPC Gregnol)