Beg, Steal or Borrow – "Won't you join the dance?" Pt. 1
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham & Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
OLD:
As the channel closed, Chelsea's experienced a deep sadness that she couldn't shake off. She took herself into the shower to contemplate but could find no peace. There was only one person who could lighten her mood but it seemed an imposition to call for him.
~Still~ she justified the selfishness. ~This isn't just any old sadness, this could well turn into the loss of a dear and mutual friend!~
Giving in, she picked up her comm badge again.
=^= Adams to Lt. Dunham, Richard are you busy? Can you talk? =^=
At least the intention of Isha's call had been achieved, even if in a roundabout way.
NEW:
=^=Lt. Dunham to Commander Adams, Yep I can talk. =^=. He said down the comm. Pressing a few buttons in his cockpit to switch it to a private link. He was in the hanger bay sitting in a fighter fully kitted in his flight gear. He was on the alert fighter shift and welcomed the change in pace. He had been sitting their for about an hour with just a worn copy of an old earth book the big sleep and his legs were going stiff. He lowered the open hatch above him for more privacy.
=^= I.... it's .... =^= Now she was speaking to him, she couldn't get the words out. =^= I spoke to Isha =^= It wasn't too informative but it was all she could say for a moment or two.
=^= Ok......=^= Dunham said wandering what this was about.
=^= I'm so worried about her. Her enemies sound so determined and so treacherous. =^= Chelsea tried to explain.
=^= Isha is very capable of looking after herself. But if push comes to shove and she gets in water too deep. We'll go after her. You an me.=^=
Chelsea's eyes widened so much she looked like an owl. =^= COULD we?? =^= she wondered for a minute, swept up in the possibility.
=^= Nooooo, *they* wouldn't let us! Neither side. Even Rh'vaurek had to come away because they forced him. They said she wouldn't get a fair trial if he stayed. If we went there, one side or the other would stop us..... unless...... OH BUT WHAT IF.....??? =^= Enthralled with idea and the sheer simple bravado of it, her heart leapt.
=^= Richard, you know you *really* are the stuff that Knights in Shining Armour were made of, you know that, don't you? =^= she smiled, breathless with the whole surprise of his reaction and the way he had picked her up in record time and hurled her back into a crazy orbit of some kind. Just as he had done that morning when he'd taken her to the places of her dreams in the holodecks.
~He's awesome!~ she thought to herself, not sure whether to be overjoyed to have found him, or miserable that he had come along at such a bad time for her.
=^=*They* can kiss my ass. I say lets go for it. She is our friend and she would do the same for you. There are others on this station who would help us in finding her. I've never been called a knight before =^=
Chelsea smiled. =^= Well you are! You've been rescuing me from dragons for days now! =^=
=^= I'll always be their to help rescue you Chelsea.=^= He said her name softly. There was no mistaking the feeling in his voice for her.
=^= Richard, thank you yet again. How will I ever repay you for being such a godsend? =^= she asked, reluctant to let him go.
=^= I'm sure I will think of something Lieutenant Commander.=^=
She chuckled at that. =^= Hmm! Should I be worried now? =^= It was a rhetorical question. =^= I really do have to go, I have to be at Ryan's show at 20:30 and I'm not even dressed. Thank you again. Speak tomorrow? =^= she asked feeling awful again.
=^= Will do =^= Dunham stroked the stubble on his chin in thought ~Hmmm a show~
* * * * *
Chelsea had done a fantastic job on her dress, shoes, make-up and hair and when Rh'vaurek called for her she was waiting anxiously having had a little alcohol for dutch-courage.
By the time the door opened Rh’vaurek was leaning with one hand splayed on the doorframe; he smiled and looked her over as he straightened.” I thought that you were going to make an effort,” he remarked with a wink. Unlike the doctor, he had not spent the best part of an hour in front of a mirror, it did not take quite that long to change a shirt.
"Don't tease me, I'm very nervous and I might take you too seriously and go and change it all. Then you'd have to wait another hour ‘til I would be ready again!" she threatened with a smirk.
Rh’vaurek extended the crook of his arm for her, “If teasing is forbidden, what shall we talk about, Miss Adams?” he asked.
Chelsea took the proffered arm graciously. "Well, teasing isn't *totally* forbidden, because now that we're out, there's no opportunity for me to make good my threat to go and change, so you're in the clear for a while, as long as you don't reduce my confidence any further, as I have little enough of that tonight as it is!" she explained candidly.
"Is your self-esteem is so low, Miss Chelsea, that a word from me could make you doubt yourself?"
"Right now, yes. I'm so afraid of the hurt that Ryan's indifference would inflict on me, that I'm like a piece of origami, the slightest screw-up will crush me very easily" she admitted candidly. "Besides, your opinion is so bluntly bestowed that I doubt I could withstand your sharp tongue if you were to choose to cut me down even under normal circumstances. I'm not as strong as Ish...."
Chelsea could have bitten out her own tongue for bringing up Isha and reminding them both of the danger their lovely Ambassador was in. She fell silent and gazed intently at the floor ahead of her as they walked.
Rh'vaurek glanced at her as they approached the turbolift, "I'll say this once, and before we get stuck in a crowd full of people who might overhear me. Isha is an anomaly, one I’m very fond of, but she is an anomaly – she’s had experiences that would leave grown men afraid of their own shadows. Isha is unbreakable, partly because she thinks she actually is so important to her Houses and her Empire, it’s a belief that is as deeply part of her as her bones are and there is nobody who is capable of taking that belief from her.
“She doesn’t make friends with weak people, because she can’t stand people who give in to her too easily. Which means either you are not her friend, or you are not weak – you do not need the approval or the attention of that kllhe,” he told her. “Now stop moping or people will think that you are in my company under duress.”
Imagining the past when the idea that she might be accompanying a Tal'Shiar General by choice would have struck Chelsea herself as about as likely as an ice-age in Hell, she saw the irony in being careful *not* to let people think that she was being coerced as very amusing. She threw back her head and laughed. It reminded her of Richard who had been the only person to make her laugh with such abandon for some time and a pang of the confusion she was enduring stabbed at her conscience again.
"Rh'vaurek, I do believe a part of me *is* strong and that can be seen most overtly from my professional side but when my heart is in limbo, I am adrift and unable to get any leverage. Tonight, all that will change. Ryan will do his show, it will be a success and he will be happy. Then we can be our normal selves again." She tried to ignore the protests of her heart over Richard's lack of place in this scenario and resolutely adopted a smile and a spring in her step. "We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz..!" she hummed, remembering an ancient children's tale she had been taught at a young age.
He raised an eyebrow. Did she really believe that? Milarno was showing no regard for her. Rh’vaurek was hardly a sentimental man, but he could see the intense vulnerability that she could not help showing, and that, more than anything else appealed to him; he wanted to protect her from people like himself.
Rh’vaurek said none of this, “And there was me thinking we were going to watch a dance show,” he muttered.
Arriving at their destination, Chelsea punched into the computerised door-screen the reservation code she had been given when she booked two seats days ago. She was so glad Rh'vaurek had agreed to come, otherwise she would have been sitting next to an empty seat. Ed was on duty so he wouldn't have been able to step in as she had pretended was an option when she'd asked her "ira'v'Dianvm" to come with her.
The screen showed where they would be sitting and they moved inside, mingling with the milling crowd already arriving. Chelsea was getting used to the glances they were getting as they spent time together. It had been less pointed with Isha before the attack on the Station but now there were signs of more intense observation of Rh'vaurek and therefore herself by association. She kept her arm firmly in the crook of his elbow all the way to their seats, proudly meeting all the eyes she caught looking their way, defensive of any dared implication of criticism or even curiosity. He was right, there were sides to her that were decidedly strong and her loyalty was definitely one of those.
The show was spectacular. The effects were amazing and the whole evening was very entertaining. Chelsea forgot her troubles for a while as the story unfolded and she enthused through it all about how brilliantly it was done and how proud she was of Ryan. At the interval she attempted to go backstage to see Ryan but was politely informed that the performers were unable to receive visitors until after the show. She accepted this as not at all unreasonable and proposed that she and Rh'vaurek find refreshments instead.
“Wait,” he said his fingers circling her arm as he drew her back into her chair. “You’ve been deceiving me, Miss Chelsea … you didn’t have to come alone at all.”
"I did, Ed is on duty" she answered simply and candidly.
“Then why has your man Dunham been glaring this way throughout the entire first part of the show. Look.” He did not point, but merely nudged his head in the direction of the man he had correctly assumed to be Richard Dunham.
It had not exactly been difficult to identify him. Rh’vaurek had refrained from doing any prior research – he was more interested to see if the ‘new man’ came of his own volition, and he had; already Rh’vaurek liked him better than the old one. He took his seat, opposite but toward the back in the seats with a less clear view of the floor and his eyes had spent more time looking towards them than at the performers, except when the ‘old man’ was on the floor with his new partner.
"How do you know.... ?" she looked in the direction of the nod of Rh'vaurek's head but if Richard had been there he was gone now. She *did* see an empty seat but thought it was just a coincidence.
Rh'vaurek shrugged, "Do I have to show you my entire training record before you'll believe me?”
Chelsea smiled. "Sorry, no." she acknowledged but was puzzled none-the-less.
tbc....
JP Between:
erie'Khrein Rh'vaurek Raedheol
Acting Romulan Ambassador
Lt Richard Dunham
Squadron Leader
and
Lt. Cmdr. Chelsea Adams
ACMO - DS5
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham & Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
| Title | "Won't you join the dance?" Pt. 1 | |
| Mission | Beg, Steal or Borrow | |
| Author(s) | Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham & Commander Isha t'Vaurek | |
| Posted | Sun Aug 16, 2009 @ 9:37pm | |
| Location | Deck 142 - North Sector - Theatre Complex | |
| Timeline | SD10 -19:30 |
As the channel closed, Chelsea's experienced a deep sadness that she couldn't shake off. She took herself into the shower to contemplate but could find no peace. There was only one person who could lighten her mood but it seemed an imposition to call for him.
~Still~ she justified the selfishness. ~This isn't just any old sadness, this could well turn into the loss of a dear and mutual friend!~
Giving in, she picked up her comm badge again.
=^= Adams to Lt. Dunham, Richard are you busy? Can you talk? =^=
At least the intention of Isha's call had been achieved, even if in a roundabout way.
NEW:
=^=Lt. Dunham to Commander Adams, Yep I can talk. =^=. He said down the comm. Pressing a few buttons in his cockpit to switch it to a private link. He was in the hanger bay sitting in a fighter fully kitted in his flight gear. He was on the alert fighter shift and welcomed the change in pace. He had been sitting their for about an hour with just a worn copy of an old earth book the big sleep and his legs were going stiff. He lowered the open hatch above him for more privacy.
=^= I.... it's .... =^= Now she was speaking to him, she couldn't get the words out. =^= I spoke to Isha =^= It wasn't too informative but it was all she could say for a moment or two.
=^= Ok......=^= Dunham said wandering what this was about.
=^= I'm so worried about her. Her enemies sound so determined and so treacherous. =^= Chelsea tried to explain.
=^= Isha is very capable of looking after herself. But if push comes to shove and she gets in water too deep. We'll go after her. You an me.=^=
Chelsea's eyes widened so much she looked like an owl. =^= COULD we?? =^= she wondered for a minute, swept up in the possibility.
=^= Nooooo, *they* wouldn't let us! Neither side. Even Rh'vaurek had to come away because they forced him. They said she wouldn't get a fair trial if he stayed. If we went there, one side or the other would stop us..... unless...... OH BUT WHAT IF.....??? =^= Enthralled with idea and the sheer simple bravado of it, her heart leapt.
=^= Richard, you know you *really* are the stuff that Knights in Shining Armour were made of, you know that, don't you? =^= she smiled, breathless with the whole surprise of his reaction and the way he had picked her up in record time and hurled her back into a crazy orbit of some kind. Just as he had done that morning when he'd taken her to the places of her dreams in the holodecks.
~He's awesome!~ she thought to herself, not sure whether to be overjoyed to have found him, or miserable that he had come along at such a bad time for her.
=^=*They* can kiss my ass. I say lets go for it. She is our friend and she would do the same for you. There are others on this station who would help us in finding her. I've never been called a knight before =^=
Chelsea smiled. =^= Well you are! You've been rescuing me from dragons for days now! =^=
=^= I'll always be their to help rescue you Chelsea.=^= He said her name softly. There was no mistaking the feeling in his voice for her.
=^= Richard, thank you yet again. How will I ever repay you for being such a godsend? =^= she asked, reluctant to let him go.
=^= I'm sure I will think of something Lieutenant Commander.=^=
She chuckled at that. =^= Hmm! Should I be worried now? =^= It was a rhetorical question. =^= I really do have to go, I have to be at Ryan's show at 20:30 and I'm not even dressed. Thank you again. Speak tomorrow? =^= she asked feeling awful again.
=^= Will do =^= Dunham stroked the stubble on his chin in thought ~Hmmm a show~
* * * * *
Chelsea had done a fantastic job on her dress, shoes, make-up and hair and when Rh'vaurek called for her she was waiting anxiously having had a little alcohol for dutch-courage.
By the time the door opened Rh’vaurek was leaning with one hand splayed on the doorframe; he smiled and looked her over as he straightened.” I thought that you were going to make an effort,” he remarked with a wink. Unlike the doctor, he had not spent the best part of an hour in front of a mirror, it did not take quite that long to change a shirt.
"Don't tease me, I'm very nervous and I might take you too seriously and go and change it all. Then you'd have to wait another hour ‘til I would be ready again!" she threatened with a smirk.
Rh’vaurek extended the crook of his arm for her, “If teasing is forbidden, what shall we talk about, Miss Adams?” he asked.
Chelsea took the proffered arm graciously. "Well, teasing isn't *totally* forbidden, because now that we're out, there's no opportunity for me to make good my threat to go and change, so you're in the clear for a while, as long as you don't reduce my confidence any further, as I have little enough of that tonight as it is!" she explained candidly.
"Is your self-esteem is so low, Miss Chelsea, that a word from me could make you doubt yourself?"
"Right now, yes. I'm so afraid of the hurt that Ryan's indifference would inflict on me, that I'm like a piece of origami, the slightest screw-up will crush me very easily" she admitted candidly. "Besides, your opinion is so bluntly bestowed that I doubt I could withstand your sharp tongue if you were to choose to cut me down even under normal circumstances. I'm not as strong as Ish...."
Chelsea could have bitten out her own tongue for bringing up Isha and reminding them both of the danger their lovely Ambassador was in. She fell silent and gazed intently at the floor ahead of her as they walked.
Rh'vaurek glanced at her as they approached the turbolift, "I'll say this once, and before we get stuck in a crowd full of people who might overhear me. Isha is an anomaly, one I’m very fond of, but she is an anomaly – she’s had experiences that would leave grown men afraid of their own shadows. Isha is unbreakable, partly because she thinks she actually is so important to her Houses and her Empire, it’s a belief that is as deeply part of her as her bones are and there is nobody who is capable of taking that belief from her.
“She doesn’t make friends with weak people, because she can’t stand people who give in to her too easily. Which means either you are not her friend, or you are not weak – you do not need the approval or the attention of that kllhe,” he told her. “Now stop moping or people will think that you are in my company under duress.”
Imagining the past when the idea that she might be accompanying a Tal'Shiar General by choice would have struck Chelsea herself as about as likely as an ice-age in Hell, she saw the irony in being careful *not* to let people think that she was being coerced as very amusing. She threw back her head and laughed. It reminded her of Richard who had been the only person to make her laugh with such abandon for some time and a pang of the confusion she was enduring stabbed at her conscience again.
"Rh'vaurek, I do believe a part of me *is* strong and that can be seen most overtly from my professional side but when my heart is in limbo, I am adrift and unable to get any leverage. Tonight, all that will change. Ryan will do his show, it will be a success and he will be happy. Then we can be our normal selves again." She tried to ignore the protests of her heart over Richard's lack of place in this scenario and resolutely adopted a smile and a spring in her step. "We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz..!" she hummed, remembering an ancient children's tale she had been taught at a young age.
He raised an eyebrow. Did she really believe that? Milarno was showing no regard for her. Rh’vaurek was hardly a sentimental man, but he could see the intense vulnerability that she could not help showing, and that, more than anything else appealed to him; he wanted to protect her from people like himself.
Rh’vaurek said none of this, “And there was me thinking we were going to watch a dance show,” he muttered.
Arriving at their destination, Chelsea punched into the computerised door-screen the reservation code she had been given when she booked two seats days ago. She was so glad Rh'vaurek had agreed to come, otherwise she would have been sitting next to an empty seat. Ed was on duty so he wouldn't have been able to step in as she had pretended was an option when she'd asked her "ira'v'Dianvm" to come with her.
The screen showed where they would be sitting and they moved inside, mingling with the milling crowd already arriving. Chelsea was getting used to the glances they were getting as they spent time together. It had been less pointed with Isha before the attack on the Station but now there were signs of more intense observation of Rh'vaurek and therefore herself by association. She kept her arm firmly in the crook of his elbow all the way to their seats, proudly meeting all the eyes she caught looking their way, defensive of any dared implication of criticism or even curiosity. He was right, there were sides to her that were decidedly strong and her loyalty was definitely one of those.
The show was spectacular. The effects were amazing and the whole evening was very entertaining. Chelsea forgot her troubles for a while as the story unfolded and she enthused through it all about how brilliantly it was done and how proud she was of Ryan. At the interval she attempted to go backstage to see Ryan but was politely informed that the performers were unable to receive visitors until after the show. She accepted this as not at all unreasonable and proposed that she and Rh'vaurek find refreshments instead.
“Wait,” he said his fingers circling her arm as he drew her back into her chair. “You’ve been deceiving me, Miss Chelsea … you didn’t have to come alone at all.”
"I did, Ed is on duty" she answered simply and candidly.
“Then why has your man Dunham been glaring this way throughout the entire first part of the show. Look.” He did not point, but merely nudged his head in the direction of the man he had correctly assumed to be Richard Dunham.
It had not exactly been difficult to identify him. Rh’vaurek had refrained from doing any prior research – he was more interested to see if the ‘new man’ came of his own volition, and he had; already Rh’vaurek liked him better than the old one. He took his seat, opposite but toward the back in the seats with a less clear view of the floor and his eyes had spent more time looking towards them than at the performers, except when the ‘old man’ was on the floor with his new partner.
"How do you know.... ?" she looked in the direction of the nod of Rh'vaurek's head but if Richard had been there he was gone now. She *did* see an empty seat but thought it was just a coincidence.
Rh'vaurek shrugged, "Do I have to show you my entire training record before you'll believe me?”
Chelsea smiled. "Sorry, no." she acknowledged but was puzzled none-the-less.
tbc....
JP Between:
erie'Khrein Rh'vaurek Raedheol
Acting Romulan Ambassador
Lt Richard Dunham
Squadron Leader
and
Lt. Cmdr. Chelsea Adams
ACMO - DS5