Beg, Steal or Borrow – Dinners, dates, dances - how devious (Part 2)
by Commander Richard Dunham & Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
ON:
Meddling in the life of her friend and new acquiantance was far easier than resolving her own problems, Isha thought; she had never striven to play annali'netha (matchmaker). Absently it occured to her that she ought to be wokring on behalf of Rianni who Dunham had originally come in search of but, she recalled that Rianni's interests lay in a different direction and her interference would be unwelcome.
Diverting Chelsea's attention to a more eager young man was much more likely to be productive - it also helped to take her mind off a fact that she was having increasing trouble denying to herself, not only her husband's brother but also her own son were traitors to the Empire and had made themselves terrorists in the eyes of half of the quadrant ... yes, much easier to push two keen young people's interests together.
Isha arrived back at the infirmary just before eight, she hoped both that Chelsea would be available and that Dunham had received her message - that would be a little difficult to check once she and the doctor were settled at their table.
It appeared quiet ... "Chelsea?" Isha said.
"Be right with you" came a muffled voice from behind a screen. Over the top of the modesty panel, a hand appeared as it popped out of the top of a sleeve that had been resisting being put on. Some more struggling seemed to go on and a few moments later Chelsea appeared, pulling the top down over a skirt. Her feet were bare but she was kicking a pair of heeled shoes ahead of her as she rounded the screen and tugged at her hair. "I got held up, but I replicated some tidy clothes and I'm *almost* ready" she puffed, hurrying into a nearby cubicle and wrestling her long brown hair out of a dishevelled bun and combing it down loose around her shoulders instead.
Returning to face Isha she also wore a rather lopsided shy grin. "Do I look presentable?" she asked. "I hurried so much I feel sure I must still have my skirt tucked in my underwear or something!" Slipping on the shoes she had abandoned earlier, Chelsea stood up straight to be inspected.
Isha placed her hands on Chelsea's shoulders and looked at her from arms length,"You'll do," she said. Isha did not feel all that much like dressing up herself, she wanted a very normal and very quiet evening, and she hoped that she would have the opportunity to sneak away early. "Its nothing special, Chelsea, a few glasses of wine, some decent food and goodbye," Isha said, if it was their last meal together ever Isha really did not want to choke on it.
"I don't want to go out to dinner with the Romulan Ambassador looking like a scruff!" she protested. "It's only proper to make *some* sort of effort. Besides, I don't go out much these days and it's nice to be able to wear a skirt for a change. I just regret not having more time to prepare. Now you're *sure* I'll do? I can change if you like......?"
"Oh, I look like a scruff do I?" Isha asked , her voice full of exaggarated concern. "You look fine ... now we'd better go, the place gets busy so early and Benito will not be able to hold the table." Somehow Isha thought that Dunham would not mind too much if the doctor turned up wearing a sack.
"NO!!! Of course *you* don't look like a scruff!" Chelsea protested at the interpretation of her words. "You always look exquisite, even when you've been kidnapped, beaten and arrested! It's incredible how easy you make 'looking good' seem to be. I *would* have looked scruffy beside you, even in my most formal 'dress-whites', let alone in a doctor's day-uniform after a 6hr stint."
Gratefully planting a peck on the cheek of CPO McBain as they passed him on their way out, Chelsea repeated her thanks for covering for her and he protested that she had already said that *four* times and if she didn't stop he'd change his mind! So they escaped before he could do so.
Once in the corridor, Chelsea took the liberty of linking her arm with Isha's. "Shall you be Court-Martialled twice now? The extra one for being seen publically linked with a Feddie?" she asked, teasing.
"No doubt. I'm sure my enemies are already fighting over who gets to take me outside, force me to my knees and place a bullet in the back of my skull," she said forgetting how Chelsea balked at her sometimes grisly sense of humour, "This should make them squabble all the harder."
Chelsea shuddered. "I hope they squabble so much they end up shooting each other instead. I can't think of a better, more apt way for such nastiness to end than in it's own self-destruction!" she declared, vehemently defensive of her friend and subconsciously clinging tightly to her arm without realising how she was inadvertently displaying her protective outrage at the thought.
"Romulan politics is very thorough," Isha patted Chelsea's arm, "I was joking Chelsea, the trial, if it comes to one will be a standard procedure and ... well, I'm much too powerful to touch," Isha added hoping that Chelsea would accept the lie.
Chelsea looked askance. ~Is *anyone* THAT powerful?~ she wondered. ~and if Isha *was* why would Nniol even try it on?~ She didn't ask that question as she didn't want to hear the answer in case it was as she feared. This would be a night that *might* even be a very poignant one, if Isha were to be detained on Romulus permanently, or worse. Chelsea didn't want to think of that and be afraid and sad.
"We must think happy thoughts tonight!" she said, quickening her pace. "We might need to remember this night for a fair while and we will want it to be a pleasant memory to tide us over until your return."
"I'll be back before you know it," Isha said with a brief tight smile, "Look," she plucked a small triangular sign off a table set for four - it read 'Reserved' in fifteen different scripts and languages. "Benito!" Isha cried widening her arms to the fat man, "you kept my table. My usual, for both of us," she said, "and bring us something horribly alcoholic and illegal," she added in a loud whisper.
"Llaydy Isha," he said, "You tolda me you were going. I fetch the wine, you sit, sit," he chivvied.
"I'd like to take him to ch'Rihan," Isha said as she took one of the seats facing the promenade, "he would make a fortune."
"He'd like that!" Chelsea laughed. "Both being taken as a favoured hostage and making a fortune too"
"I expect you'll be pleased to see Aidoann, won't you? How long has it been?" Chelsea asked as the drinks arrived and Benito fussed about keeping them out of sight, and his reputation and so on.
Dunham made his way through the crowds on the promenade towards Benitos. He spotted the restaurant then made his way. He headed to the bar first nonchalantly and coolly. Their he took a seat and ordered a beer. Thanks to Isha's message he knew they would already be here so he spun on his seat and scanned the room hoping to make eye contact with Chelsea
Was it really this hard to get people to approach one another, Isha wondered as she gestured to the side of the table. Chelsea was facing her, and she could hardly spin the woman in her chair and make her face the room.
She chose a different and less sublte option.
"Dunham," Isha said loudly in a voice that she knew could still a room, "this is the second time I've run into you today. Ask Benito to refresh our drinks, and when you join us, bring the bottle with you."
Chelsea was astounded and taken completely by surprise. She had spent a wonderful morning with Richard and was thrilled to see him again but she had no idea Isha was likely to even *have* such a voice, let alone use it when she was normally so softly spoken and reserved.
Sitting with her mouth open in surprise and pink cheeks, she was, for once, speechless.
"What?" Isha asked with a raised eyebrow. "The right tone for the right circumstances, though I more usually use it for bringing squabbling relatives to order - you have to admit that overuse would diminish its impact," she added with a smile.
"Impact being the very word!" Chelsea breathed. "Squabbling relatives...." she giggled, having conjured up an amusing picture in her head at the thought of a group of grumpy Romulans, all looking a lot like Isha, being hushed with such a tone and scowling as they were brought to order.
"Isha, have I ever told you how fond I am of you?" she muttered rhetorically, still giggling to herself as she caught Richard's eye across the bar. ~I hope he's forgiven for earlier. I wonder if I got him into trouble?~ she thought, pinkening further at the thought.
Dunham gave a small embarrassed smile and a wave. He then asked Benito to refresh their drinks. However he was already doing it and he passed him the bottle on a tray with a wink. Dunham then took the bottle over. "Hi" he said cheerily "You don't mind if I join you?"
"Please do," Isha said. She turned to Chelsea, "Do you know Lieutenant Dunham?" she asked, "He works for my niece Rianni. He quite startled me this morning ... indeed if he'd walked in a minute earlier I might have inadvertantly sliced his ear off. Lieutenant Dunham, this is Lieutant Commander Doctor Chelsea Adams - I believe we all have to salute her or something ..." she added before Chelsea could reply.
Dunham gave a warm smile to Chelsea. "We have bumped into each other a few times over the last 42 hours. In fact I gave her a flying lesson earlier today. She is a fine student."
"Is she indeed," Isha siad. "And you never told me! There you are letting me waffle when you've had a day doing all sorts of exciting things."
"Well a couple of hours before duty" Chelsea modestly reduced the flattery but returned the warmth of the smile.
It was a little too soon for her to leave, Isha thought as she raised her glass to her lips, fingers curling around the tall stem but she had a very clear inkling that sooner probably than later she was going to find herself very much a spare part in this conversation, which of course was the point.
"Mister Dunham here is quite a philosopher, though that may just have been a reaction to my sense of humour having been particularly morbid this morning. So are you tempted to take up flying in your spare time?" Isha asked Cheslea with all the subtlty of a drunken Klingon.
"I think you should" said the pilot. "You have a natural knack for it and I would be more than happy to take you up again."
Isha quite bit her tongue, all she could add was rather poor inuendo: instead she bit it and let herslef simply smile at the suggestion.How do they do this!? she thought trying to think of something appropriate to say that was not trimmed with a fringe of bricks and garnished with a douse of obviousness.
Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief that Richard wasn't mad with her or bearing any grudges either. "You would?" she asked incredulously. "Oh, that'd be totally awesome and I promise I won't try to crash her next time." she blushed a little and then proceeded to enthuse vividly over the whole experience in great descriptive detail to Isha, leaving nothing out about how the station had looked, gigantic, damaged yet still beautiful, hanging in the dark night of space.
"I confess that I've always been more comfortable in larger vessels," Isha said taking the opportunity to refill their glasses. "You must do it, Chelsea!" she said, "Its much more you than dancing, and if Dunham here can't get the air time for you, I'm sure that my niece will be able to pull the necessary strings to allow it, wouldn't you agree, Dunham?" Isha flicked her gaze to the pilot, looking for a signal as to whether or not he wished her to make herself scarce.
"Of course" said the LT with unhidden enthusiasm. "Look Chelsea I think it was very brave of you to take stick of a ship like that after I handed over the controls so ungracefully. When my instructor did that to me I had a hell of a panic. I wouldn't even take the stick and I was on a Holo deck!" Though Dunham was telling a true story he had left out the part that his Dad had been the instructor and he had been about eight years old at the time. "Do you really dance Chelsea?" "I'm a ballroom fan my self."
Isha coughed, given that it seemed Chelsea had lost Milarno to a dancer it was almost the worst thing that he could say, "I think flying sounds much more fun," she said.
"Oh it is." Said Dunham with a smile "But theirs something to be said about wearing a tux." He winked to emphasize the joke.
Chelsea didn't know what to say. She swallowed and tried to remember that Richard couldn't know why she had such a problem with dancing.
"Um... I can't dance. Well, not really well anyway. I'm too clumsy." she grimaced, pulling funny faces to cover the fact that her face felt like it was giving away the fact that the subject was bringing her close to tears.
"But flying *IS* much more fun, especially for someone with two left feet" she tried to change the subject again "Didn't you say you were interested in Counselling? I looked up a course that you could do, if you're serious?" The lump in her throat seemed to ease a little and she smiled unsteadily but with genuine warmth.
Wow. Dunham said to himself, that was about as funny as a stone through a wet paper bag. Now you've upset the woman. Well done Dunham. He thought with a sarcastic in monologue. Ok try and salvage the conversation. Dunham leant over the and placed his hand on Chelsea's "Sorry. It was a joke I don't actually dance." He took his hand off hers then lent back in his chair and gave a big smile. "Yep. I was thinking of being a councillor. I love people. But I love flying more. But I don't like the killing its bad Karma and in counselling you don't have to kill anyone only help people and thats cool."
Chelsea was strangely moved by the gesture of Richard's hand touching her own. It seemed such a sweet gesture. She smiled at him, her eyes moist but back to their genuine warmth.
"It's okay, I'm sorry to be so over-sensitive. It's just that I'm in the middle of a difficult time. I'm sorry to let that intrude, I really didn't want it to." she apologised too.
Dunham gave her a quizzical look.
"It's a long story. I should tell you some time, when you're too bored to escape." she grinned, laughing at herself. "I suppose I *could* use a counsellor right now!"
"Mister Dunham," Isha said, "Do you eat clams? I've just remembered that I have a meeting prior to my departure tomorrow which I cannot possibly get out of. You might have my food order when it arrives," she suggested.
"Thank you" Said Dunham with only a hint of mild fake surprise. "That would be lovely I love shell fish."
As she rose, Isha grasped Chelsea's hands around her wineglass, "Will you forgive me?" she asked, "I have a very angry Klingon who is none too keen to transport me who I must talk to." It was a complete lie, Da'nal had already agreed, but she needed a good reason to leave the two alone.
"Of course, I only wish you didn't have to go at all!" Chelsea replied sadly. She stood up to hug Isha goodbye.
Already emotional from the subject raised earlier, it was very nearly a tearful goodbye that she gave her friend, hugging her tightly.
"Take care of yourself for me?" She entreated.
"I'll be back before you know it," Isha said, blinking strongly. "Take care of her, Dunham," she said, "You'll have me to answer to if you don't."
With that Isha straightened and pressed Chelsea back into her chair, "Tell Benito that it is on my account, and enjoy yourselves," she said before turning away and slipping quietly out of the restaurant.
"I honestly think," said Dunham with a smile as Isha walked off, "that women could Kick my ass."
OFF:
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
Lt Ricard Dunham
Lt. Cmdr. Chelsea Adams
ACMO - DS5
by Commander Richard Dunham & Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
| Title | Dinners, dates, dances - how devious (Part 2) | |
| Mission | Beg, Steal or Borrow | |
| Author(s) | Commander Richard Dunham & Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Isha t'Vaurek | |
| Posted | Thu Jun 25, 2009 @ 9:40am | |
| Location | From Sickbay to Benito's | |
| Timeline | SD9 - From 20:00hrs onwards |
Meddling in the life of her friend and new acquiantance was far easier than resolving her own problems, Isha thought; she had never striven to play annali'netha (matchmaker). Absently it occured to her that she ought to be wokring on behalf of Rianni who Dunham had originally come in search of but, she recalled that Rianni's interests lay in a different direction and her interference would be unwelcome.
Diverting Chelsea's attention to a more eager young man was much more likely to be productive - it also helped to take her mind off a fact that she was having increasing trouble denying to herself, not only her husband's brother but also her own son were traitors to the Empire and had made themselves terrorists in the eyes of half of the quadrant ... yes, much easier to push two keen young people's interests together.
Isha arrived back at the infirmary just before eight, she hoped both that Chelsea would be available and that Dunham had received her message - that would be a little difficult to check once she and the doctor were settled at their table.
It appeared quiet ... "Chelsea?" Isha said.
"Be right with you" came a muffled voice from behind a screen. Over the top of the modesty panel, a hand appeared as it popped out of the top of a sleeve that had been resisting being put on. Some more struggling seemed to go on and a few moments later Chelsea appeared, pulling the top down over a skirt. Her feet were bare but she was kicking a pair of heeled shoes ahead of her as she rounded the screen and tugged at her hair. "I got held up, but I replicated some tidy clothes and I'm *almost* ready" she puffed, hurrying into a nearby cubicle and wrestling her long brown hair out of a dishevelled bun and combing it down loose around her shoulders instead.
Returning to face Isha she also wore a rather lopsided shy grin. "Do I look presentable?" she asked. "I hurried so much I feel sure I must still have my skirt tucked in my underwear or something!" Slipping on the shoes she had abandoned earlier, Chelsea stood up straight to be inspected.
Isha placed her hands on Chelsea's shoulders and looked at her from arms length,"You'll do," she said. Isha did not feel all that much like dressing up herself, she wanted a very normal and very quiet evening, and she hoped that she would have the opportunity to sneak away early. "Its nothing special, Chelsea, a few glasses of wine, some decent food and goodbye," Isha said, if it was their last meal together ever Isha really did not want to choke on it.
"I don't want to go out to dinner with the Romulan Ambassador looking like a scruff!" she protested. "It's only proper to make *some* sort of effort. Besides, I don't go out much these days and it's nice to be able to wear a skirt for a change. I just regret not having more time to prepare. Now you're *sure* I'll do? I can change if you like......?"
"Oh, I look like a scruff do I?" Isha asked , her voice full of exaggarated concern. "You look fine ... now we'd better go, the place gets busy so early and Benito will not be able to hold the table." Somehow Isha thought that Dunham would not mind too much if the doctor turned up wearing a sack.
"NO!!! Of course *you* don't look like a scruff!" Chelsea protested at the interpretation of her words. "You always look exquisite, even when you've been kidnapped, beaten and arrested! It's incredible how easy you make 'looking good' seem to be. I *would* have looked scruffy beside you, even in my most formal 'dress-whites', let alone in a doctor's day-uniform after a 6hr stint."
Gratefully planting a peck on the cheek of CPO McBain as they passed him on their way out, Chelsea repeated her thanks for covering for her and he protested that she had already said that *four* times and if she didn't stop he'd change his mind! So they escaped before he could do so.
Once in the corridor, Chelsea took the liberty of linking her arm with Isha's. "Shall you be Court-Martialled twice now? The extra one for being seen publically linked with a Feddie?" she asked, teasing.
"No doubt. I'm sure my enemies are already fighting over who gets to take me outside, force me to my knees and place a bullet in the back of my skull," she said forgetting how Chelsea balked at her sometimes grisly sense of humour, "This should make them squabble all the harder."
Chelsea shuddered. "I hope they squabble so much they end up shooting each other instead. I can't think of a better, more apt way for such nastiness to end than in it's own self-destruction!" she declared, vehemently defensive of her friend and subconsciously clinging tightly to her arm without realising how she was inadvertently displaying her protective outrage at the thought.
"Romulan politics is very thorough," Isha patted Chelsea's arm, "I was joking Chelsea, the trial, if it comes to one will be a standard procedure and ... well, I'm much too powerful to touch," Isha added hoping that Chelsea would accept the lie.
Chelsea looked askance. ~Is *anyone* THAT powerful?~ she wondered. ~and if Isha *was* why would Nniol even try it on?~ She didn't ask that question as she didn't want to hear the answer in case it was as she feared. This would be a night that *might* even be a very poignant one, if Isha were to be detained on Romulus permanently, or worse. Chelsea didn't want to think of that and be afraid and sad.
"We must think happy thoughts tonight!" she said, quickening her pace. "We might need to remember this night for a fair while and we will want it to be a pleasant memory to tide us over until your return."
"I'll be back before you know it," Isha said with a brief tight smile, "Look," she plucked a small triangular sign off a table set for four - it read 'Reserved' in fifteen different scripts and languages. "Benito!" Isha cried widening her arms to the fat man, "you kept my table. My usual, for both of us," she said, "and bring us something horribly alcoholic and illegal," she added in a loud whisper.
"Llaydy Isha," he said, "You tolda me you were going. I fetch the wine, you sit, sit," he chivvied.
"I'd like to take him to ch'Rihan," Isha said as she took one of the seats facing the promenade, "he would make a fortune."
"He'd like that!" Chelsea laughed. "Both being taken as a favoured hostage and making a fortune too"
"I expect you'll be pleased to see Aidoann, won't you? How long has it been?" Chelsea asked as the drinks arrived and Benito fussed about keeping them out of sight, and his reputation and so on.
Dunham made his way through the crowds on the promenade towards Benitos. He spotted the restaurant then made his way. He headed to the bar first nonchalantly and coolly. Their he took a seat and ordered a beer. Thanks to Isha's message he knew they would already be here so he spun on his seat and scanned the room hoping to make eye contact with Chelsea
Was it really this hard to get people to approach one another, Isha wondered as she gestured to the side of the table. Chelsea was facing her, and she could hardly spin the woman in her chair and make her face the room.
She chose a different and less sublte option.
"Dunham," Isha said loudly in a voice that she knew could still a room, "this is the second time I've run into you today. Ask Benito to refresh our drinks, and when you join us, bring the bottle with you."
Chelsea was astounded and taken completely by surprise. She had spent a wonderful morning with Richard and was thrilled to see him again but she had no idea Isha was likely to even *have* such a voice, let alone use it when she was normally so softly spoken and reserved.
Sitting with her mouth open in surprise and pink cheeks, she was, for once, speechless.
"What?" Isha asked with a raised eyebrow. "The right tone for the right circumstances, though I more usually use it for bringing squabbling relatives to order - you have to admit that overuse would diminish its impact," she added with a smile.
"Impact being the very word!" Chelsea breathed. "Squabbling relatives...." she giggled, having conjured up an amusing picture in her head at the thought of a group of grumpy Romulans, all looking a lot like Isha, being hushed with such a tone and scowling as they were brought to order.
"Isha, have I ever told you how fond I am of you?" she muttered rhetorically, still giggling to herself as she caught Richard's eye across the bar. ~I hope he's forgiven for earlier. I wonder if I got him into trouble?~ she thought, pinkening further at the thought.
Dunham gave a small embarrassed smile and a wave. He then asked Benito to refresh their drinks. However he was already doing it and he passed him the bottle on a tray with a wink. Dunham then took the bottle over. "Hi" he said cheerily "You don't mind if I join you?"
"Please do," Isha said. She turned to Chelsea, "Do you know Lieutenant Dunham?" she asked, "He works for my niece Rianni. He quite startled me this morning ... indeed if he'd walked in a minute earlier I might have inadvertantly sliced his ear off. Lieutenant Dunham, this is Lieutant Commander Doctor Chelsea Adams - I believe we all have to salute her or something ..." she added before Chelsea could reply.
Dunham gave a warm smile to Chelsea. "We have bumped into each other a few times over the last 42 hours. In fact I gave her a flying lesson earlier today. She is a fine student."
"Is she indeed," Isha siad. "And you never told me! There you are letting me waffle when you've had a day doing all sorts of exciting things."
"Well a couple of hours before duty" Chelsea modestly reduced the flattery but returned the warmth of the smile.
It was a little too soon for her to leave, Isha thought as she raised her glass to her lips, fingers curling around the tall stem but she had a very clear inkling that sooner probably than later she was going to find herself very much a spare part in this conversation, which of course was the point.
"Mister Dunham here is quite a philosopher, though that may just have been a reaction to my sense of humour having been particularly morbid this morning. So are you tempted to take up flying in your spare time?" Isha asked Cheslea with all the subtlty of a drunken Klingon.
"I think you should" said the pilot. "You have a natural knack for it and I would be more than happy to take you up again."
Isha quite bit her tongue, all she could add was rather poor inuendo: instead she bit it and let herslef simply smile at the suggestion.
Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief that Richard wasn't mad with her or bearing any grudges either. "You would?" she asked incredulously. "Oh, that'd be totally awesome and I promise I won't try to crash her next time." she blushed a little and then proceeded to enthuse vividly over the whole experience in great descriptive detail to Isha, leaving nothing out about how the station had looked, gigantic, damaged yet still beautiful, hanging in the dark night of space.
"I confess that I've always been more comfortable in larger vessels," Isha said taking the opportunity to refill their glasses. "You must do it, Chelsea!" she said, "Its much more you than dancing, and if Dunham here can't get the air time for you, I'm sure that my niece will be able to pull the necessary strings to allow it, wouldn't you agree, Dunham?" Isha flicked her gaze to the pilot, looking for a signal as to whether or not he wished her to make herself scarce.
"Of course" said the LT with unhidden enthusiasm. "Look Chelsea I think it was very brave of you to take stick of a ship like that after I handed over the controls so ungracefully. When my instructor did that to me I had a hell of a panic. I wouldn't even take the stick and I was on a Holo deck!" Though Dunham was telling a true story he had left out the part that his Dad had been the instructor and he had been about eight years old at the time. "Do you really dance Chelsea?" "I'm a ballroom fan my self."
Isha coughed, given that it seemed Chelsea had lost Milarno to a dancer it was almost the worst thing that he could say, "I think flying sounds much more fun," she said.
"Oh it is." Said Dunham with a smile "But theirs something to be said about wearing a tux." He winked to emphasize the joke.
Chelsea didn't know what to say. She swallowed and tried to remember that Richard couldn't know why she had such a problem with dancing.
"Um... I can't dance. Well, not really well anyway. I'm too clumsy." she grimaced, pulling funny faces to cover the fact that her face felt like it was giving away the fact that the subject was bringing her close to tears.
"But flying *IS* much more fun, especially for someone with two left feet" she tried to change the subject again "Didn't you say you were interested in Counselling? I looked up a course that you could do, if you're serious?" The lump in her throat seemed to ease a little and she smiled unsteadily but with genuine warmth.
Wow. Dunham said to himself, that was about as funny as a stone through a wet paper bag. Now you've upset the woman. Well done Dunham. He thought with a sarcastic in monologue. Ok try and salvage the conversation. Dunham leant over the and placed his hand on Chelsea's "Sorry. It was a joke I don't actually dance." He took his hand off hers then lent back in his chair and gave a big smile. "Yep. I was thinking of being a councillor. I love people. But I love flying more. But I don't like the killing its bad Karma and in counselling you don't have to kill anyone only help people and thats cool."
Chelsea was strangely moved by the gesture of Richard's hand touching her own. It seemed such a sweet gesture. She smiled at him, her eyes moist but back to their genuine warmth.
"It's okay, I'm sorry to be so over-sensitive. It's just that I'm in the middle of a difficult time. I'm sorry to let that intrude, I really didn't want it to." she apologised too.
Dunham gave her a quizzical look.
"It's a long story. I should tell you some time, when you're too bored to escape." she grinned, laughing at herself. "I suppose I *could* use a counsellor right now!"
"Mister Dunham," Isha said, "Do you eat clams? I've just remembered that I have a meeting prior to my departure tomorrow which I cannot possibly get out of. You might have my food order when it arrives," she suggested.
"Thank you" Said Dunham with only a hint of mild fake surprise. "That would be lovely I love shell fish."
As she rose, Isha grasped Chelsea's hands around her wineglass, "Will you forgive me?" she asked, "I have a very angry Klingon who is none too keen to transport me who I must talk to." It was a complete lie, Da'nal had already agreed, but she needed a good reason to leave the two alone.
"Of course, I only wish you didn't have to go at all!" Chelsea replied sadly. She stood up to hug Isha goodbye.
Already emotional from the subject raised earlier, it was very nearly a tearful goodbye that she gave her friend, hugging her tightly.
"Take care of yourself for me?" She entreated.
"I'll be back before you know it," Isha said, blinking strongly. "Take care of her, Dunham," she said, "You'll have me to answer to if you don't."
With that Isha straightened and pressed Chelsea back into her chair, "Tell Benito that it is on my account, and enjoy yourselves," she said before turning away and slipping quietly out of the restaurant.
"I honestly think," said Dunham with a smile as Isha walked off, "that women could Kick my ass."
OFF:
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
Lt Ricard Dunham
Lt. Cmdr. Chelsea Adams
ACMO - DS5