Incommunicado – Pardon Me? Could You Repeat That Please?
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham
Post Details
OLD:
Rick was next to enter. In one hand he held a large mug of black steaming coffee in the other was a PADD which he was intensely reading. Almost on remote he went and sat down next to Chelsea. This was a senior staff meeting so he was ever his professional self, but this did not stop him from putting his coffee down and finding her hand under the desk to squeeze as a hello.
Chelsea shot him a quizzical look and arched one eyebrow at him but she returned the affectionate squeeze and shook her head softly as if to say "what are you like?" but with a sparkle in her eyes that denied any seriousness. Next, casting a second questioning glance at his coffee which asked "'where's mine?" she rolled her eyes at him and smirked gently. This entire animated *conversation* was completely conducted without a single word spoken.
NEW BUT CONCURRENT WITH THE REST OF THE MEETING:
Chelsea tapped on the padd in front of her as they waited for the CO to start the meeting.
"Morning Gorgeous! You ok?" then she addressed it to Commander Richard Dunham and pressed *send*.
Glancing at his PaDD for second and reading the message Rick smiled to himself. He looked back up from the PaDD and did not take his eyes off the person who was talking to him from across the table, but contrary to popular belief he could multi task and he typed into the padd and sent the message. "Ok thanx. You Ok?"
"Fine thnx." she replied and added a :-) smiley at the end with two XX kisses.
"Cool" he sent back also adding his own smiley.
"Have you eaten?" It was a wifely question, innocently asked.
"Yes thank you" he replied politely.
She nodded almost inperceptibly.
"Tyler is cutting another tooth" she sent full of fostered parental pride which she expected him to share.
"Awwwww" he replied with an additional smiley face.
"I know" she sent back but then immediately afterwards. "I was sick this morning so I couldn't eat any breakfast, do want to go get something together after this meeting?"
"I can join you, but only coffee for me, as I said I have already eaten" he replied back.
"Unless you're too busy to stop twice?" she asked. Looking back later, this sounded to her like a loaded question but actually it was well intentioned at the time.
"Well depends how this meeting turns out and how much trouble the station's in" he said adding a winky face at the end.
"Okay let's take a rain check then? How about lunch?" she asked instead.
"On Duty" added with a sad face.
"Dinner?" she sent.
"Cooool" smiley face.
She thought about this for a moment or two before replying again. "Weren't you on the graveyard shift? What time are you off duty?" she sent back with a frown, adding up the hours he'd been working already today.
"Now" came the one word reply.
"So why can't you do lunch?" came back.
"I have to give a squadron brief to Bravo wing"
Chelsea didn't answer that. She couldn't see why the ACAG couldn't do that if the CAG had been on duty all night already but she wasn't going to provoke what she was anticipating his answer would be; the one she usually got if she asked about the Air Group structure or workload.
She knew it was true that she did worry about him and that he often had to be firm if she did it too much. "Because I'm a Starfleet Officer and I have duties." was what she was expecting to hear so she tried a different approach instead.
"Are you CERTAIN you won't have to brief someone at dinner time too? If you can't be sure, then shall I'll book an appointment with your Admin officer to come and see you in your office some other time instead?" she sent.
The message was barely gone before she wondered if she had maybe worded it badly. She knew how easy it was to misinterpret text. There would be no body language to give clues, no tone of voice to give an idea of mood or intention. She watched his face intently, concerned in case that had come over in a manner that might upset him.
At that moment, Tasha called the meeting to order so there was a delay before Rick could reply as they both paid attention.
When the response did come it said; :: sigh :: yes dear.
The anticipation of waiting didn't help but even so, Chelsea didn't realise at first that her reaction to this was one of a Gale Force 9 hormonal storm. For the rest of the meeting she fought with her inner feelings behind the Professional mask.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Chelsea was gutted by Rick's response.
Part of her knew she had worded her own message badly and that messaging itself wasn't the way she should have approached him but the other part of her was on a high of euphoric hormones and a deep need for reassurance from the rock of her life, both of which had just crashed and burned badly.
Her condition had come about much sooner than they both expected and she wasn't even sure how he would react to that. She was ten days in now which was nothing at all to her human side but her Bajoran half was off the starting blocks and in full flood already. The conflict was playing havoc with the subject herself and she was in a hormonal and emotional spin, seemingly out of the blue.
'The Dunhams' had originally planned to wait until they were less *full on* with their careers but now... ~Ah, but it would still be okay, wouldn't it?~
Chelsea needed Rick to tell her that it would, even though she DID know it herself - she needed to share it with him or it wouldn't be complete. No, it was more serious than that: without him to share it with, it was damned scary!
It dawned on her how dependent she'd become since she met Rick. In her eyes these days, every tiny thing had to have his approval. Suddenly, with it all blown out of proportion by the hormones pulsing through her like a tsunami, it seemed that the tiniest puff of air suddenly took on a new meaning, far in excess of its *real* significance.
She had felt like this when she had first fallen in love with Rick. The whole universe was brighter in colour, deeper in meaning, better from every angle, more exciting and more of a wonderful, crazy roller-coaster than it had ever been before. It was breathtaking.
Since then she had settled into a serene and stable mood. The children coming to stay had helped that too.
Yes, there were times when they were exhausting and she wanted to tear out her hair but when she held those babies to her, especially Ty who smelled like Heaven, the universe was in complete alignment and balance.
~Oh Prophets, what when their mother gets back and they have to leave?~ There was another tidal wave of emotion to contend with at that thought.
Chelsea stiffened her back against it and breathed deeply to focus herself again. She felt Rick's presence beside her but avoided looking at him. She wanted to hold his hand again but couldn't without risking shattering her brittle defence shields.
Eventually, obediently to it's military training at last, her mind returned to the meeting and processed the information that was being presented and discussed. It was almost over before Rick's message drifted back into her mind again.
~So why *does* he feel that way?~ She was already sitting next to the CO so she didn't have to move when the rest of the officers stood up and went to leave but she felt she needed to anyway.
She sent a message to her husband that simply said "see you later, have a good day" and then stood up too and went to the other side of Tasha.
She couldn't speak to Rick or face him because if she did, the risk of failure of her defence shields would be too high and that would be a disaster. She was an officer on duty too. She needed to steel herself to keep hold of that.
That was exactly what Rick was doing, she was certain, and he was being a good example right now.
She sat down again, drawing in deep breaths as inconspicuously as she could.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
OLD: "Someone or something" said Rick getting out a gum from his pocket and unwrapping it. "By artificial in nature I mean it is not a natural phenomena created by lets say a pulsar or gravity wells, temporal rifts, tachyon fields, neutrino cascades that sort of thing. By artificial in nature I mean created by something. As for who has that kind of capability I think the engineers or scientists could help us answer that one."
NEW & CONCURRENT:
Rick shoved the gum in his mouth and began to chew on it rapaciously as he went back to reading his PaDD.
Something was wrong with Chelsea her whole mannerism seemed completely off kilter. Or maybe it was him.....maybe he was reading into it wrong. He was stressed and tired and had not had a proper rest since this anomaly had begun. His hands still itched from the dermal regenerator that was used on them yesterday to repair his wounds and he really had not had a chance to sit back and reflect on the events of the last few days.
He wondered if it was some sort of combat or mission stress, maybe the job was getting to him? Whatever it was his normally calm, cool and collected mellow demeanor seemed to be rattled and also off kilter.
~They had not even had their honey moon yet.......~ Thought Rick to himself then berated himself for letting such random thoughts, more of which had been slipping through lately, in.
He was tired there was no doubt of that, and yeah he was maybe suffering from some sort of mission stress but he could not shake off the feeling that something else was wrong....maybe he needed to speak to a counselor again?
Maybe it something else? He had been thinking a lot about the future recently since they had had the kids staying with them he had been thinking more and more about kids....and how it could work? Yes starfleet officers raised families all the time, Rick was a good example of that, but he had more of a dangerous job than most. But he loved flying and he could not imagine doing anything else and if they had kids would he have to quit flying.....he couldn't imagine where his skills were applicable on civy street. He wanted kids more than anything else and he loved the idea...but he loved flying too.
Whatever he needed to do he most definitely needed to find Chelsea sit down with her and find out just what was going on.
OFF:
Chief Medical Officer/Second Officer
Commander Chelsea Dunham
&
CAG Squadron Leader
Lieutenant Commander Richard Dunham
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham
Post Details
| Title | Pardon Me? Could You Repeat That Please? | |
| Mission | Incommunicado | |
| Author(s) | Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham | |
| Posted | Mon Jul 02, 2012 @ 1:15pm | |
| Location | Conference Room | |
| Timeline | SD58, 0800 hours: During 'Senior Staff... ASSEMBLE! ' |
Rick was next to enter. In one hand he held a large mug of black steaming coffee in the other was a PADD which he was intensely reading. Almost on remote he went and sat down next to Chelsea. This was a senior staff meeting so he was ever his professional self, but this did not stop him from putting his coffee down and finding her hand under the desk to squeeze as a hello.
Chelsea shot him a quizzical look and arched one eyebrow at him but she returned the affectionate squeeze and shook her head softly as if to say "what are you like?" but with a sparkle in her eyes that denied any seriousness. Next, casting a second questioning glance at his coffee which asked "'where's mine?" she rolled her eyes at him and smirked gently. This entire animated *conversation* was completely conducted without a single word spoken.
NEW BUT CONCURRENT WITH THE REST OF THE MEETING:
Chelsea tapped on the padd in front of her as they waited for the CO to start the meeting.
"Morning Gorgeous! You ok?" then she addressed it to Commander Richard Dunham and pressed *send*.
Glancing at his PaDD for second and reading the message Rick smiled to himself. He looked back up from the PaDD and did not take his eyes off the person who was talking to him from across the table, but contrary to popular belief he could multi task and he typed into the padd and sent the message. "Ok thanx. You Ok?"
"Fine thnx." she replied and added a :-) smiley at the end with two XX kisses.
"Cool" he sent back also adding his own smiley.
"Have you eaten?" It was a wifely question, innocently asked.
"Yes thank you" he replied politely.
She nodded almost inperceptibly.
"Tyler is cutting another tooth" she sent full of fostered parental pride which she expected him to share.
"Awwwww" he replied with an additional smiley face.
"I know" she sent back but then immediately afterwards. "I was sick this morning so I couldn't eat any breakfast, do want to go get something together after this meeting?"
"I can join you, but only coffee for me, as I said I have already eaten" he replied back.
"Unless you're too busy to stop twice?" she asked. Looking back later, this sounded to her like a loaded question but actually it was well intentioned at the time.
"Well depends how this meeting turns out and how much trouble the station's in" he said adding a winky face at the end.
"Okay let's take a rain check then? How about lunch?" she asked instead.
"On Duty" added with a sad face.
"Dinner?" she sent.
"Cooool" smiley face.
She thought about this for a moment or two before replying again. "Weren't you on the graveyard shift? What time are you off duty?" she sent back with a frown, adding up the hours he'd been working already today.
"Now" came the one word reply.
"So why can't you do lunch?" came back.
"I have to give a squadron brief to Bravo wing"
Chelsea didn't answer that. She couldn't see why the ACAG couldn't do that if the CAG had been on duty all night already but she wasn't going to provoke what she was anticipating his answer would be; the one she usually got if she asked about the Air Group structure or workload.
She knew it was true that she did worry about him and that he often had to be firm if she did it too much. "Because I'm a Starfleet Officer and I have duties." was what she was expecting to hear so she tried a different approach instead.
"Are you CERTAIN you won't have to brief someone at dinner time too? If you can't be sure, then shall I'll book an appointment with your Admin officer to come and see you in your office some other time instead?" she sent.
The message was barely gone before she wondered if she had maybe worded it badly. She knew how easy it was to misinterpret text. There would be no body language to give clues, no tone of voice to give an idea of mood or intention. She watched his face intently, concerned in case that had come over in a manner that might upset him.
At that moment, Tasha called the meeting to order so there was a delay before Rick could reply as they both paid attention.
When the response did come it said; :: sigh :: yes dear.
The anticipation of waiting didn't help but even so, Chelsea didn't realise at first that her reaction to this was one of a Gale Force 9 hormonal storm. For the rest of the meeting she fought with her inner feelings behind the Professional mask.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Chelsea was gutted by Rick's response.
Part of her knew she had worded her own message badly and that messaging itself wasn't the way she should have approached him but the other part of her was on a high of euphoric hormones and a deep need for reassurance from the rock of her life, both of which had just crashed and burned badly.
Her condition had come about much sooner than they both expected and she wasn't even sure how he would react to that. She was ten days in now which was nothing at all to her human side but her Bajoran half was off the starting blocks and in full flood already. The conflict was playing havoc with the subject herself and she was in a hormonal and emotional spin, seemingly out of the blue.
'The Dunhams' had originally planned to wait until they were less *full on* with their careers but now... ~Ah, but it would still be okay, wouldn't it?~
Chelsea needed Rick to tell her that it would, even though she DID know it herself - she needed to share it with him or it wouldn't be complete. No, it was more serious than that: without him to share it with, it was damned scary!
It dawned on her how dependent she'd become since she met Rick. In her eyes these days, every tiny thing had to have his approval. Suddenly, with it all blown out of proportion by the hormones pulsing through her like a tsunami, it seemed that the tiniest puff of air suddenly took on a new meaning, far in excess of its *real* significance.
She had felt like this when she had first fallen in love with Rick. The whole universe was brighter in colour, deeper in meaning, better from every angle, more exciting and more of a wonderful, crazy roller-coaster than it had ever been before. It was breathtaking.
Since then she had settled into a serene and stable mood. The children coming to stay had helped that too.
Yes, there were times when they were exhausting and she wanted to tear out her hair but when she held those babies to her, especially Ty who smelled like Heaven, the universe was in complete alignment and balance.
~Oh Prophets, what when their mother gets back and they have to leave?~ There was another tidal wave of emotion to contend with at that thought.
Chelsea stiffened her back against it and breathed deeply to focus herself again. She felt Rick's presence beside her but avoided looking at him. She wanted to hold his hand again but couldn't without risking shattering her brittle defence shields.
Eventually, obediently to it's military training at last, her mind returned to the meeting and processed the information that was being presented and discussed. It was almost over before Rick's message drifted back into her mind again.
~So why *does* he feel that way?~ She was already sitting next to the CO so she didn't have to move when the rest of the officers stood up and went to leave but she felt she needed to anyway.
She sent a message to her husband that simply said "see you later, have a good day" and then stood up too and went to the other side of Tasha.
She couldn't speak to Rick or face him because if she did, the risk of failure of her defence shields would be too high and that would be a disaster. She was an officer on duty too. She needed to steel herself to keep hold of that.
That was exactly what Rick was doing, she was certain, and he was being a good example right now.
She sat down again, drawing in deep breaths as inconspicuously as she could.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
OLD: "Someone or something" said Rick getting out a gum from his pocket and unwrapping it. "By artificial in nature I mean it is not a natural phenomena created by lets say a pulsar or gravity wells, temporal rifts, tachyon fields, neutrino cascades that sort of thing. By artificial in nature I mean created by something. As for who has that kind of capability I think the engineers or scientists could help us answer that one."
NEW & CONCURRENT:
Rick shoved the gum in his mouth and began to chew on it rapaciously as he went back to reading his PaDD.
Something was wrong with Chelsea her whole mannerism seemed completely off kilter. Or maybe it was him.....maybe he was reading into it wrong. He was stressed and tired and had not had a proper rest since this anomaly had begun. His hands still itched from the dermal regenerator that was used on them yesterday to repair his wounds and he really had not had a chance to sit back and reflect on the events of the last few days.
He wondered if it was some sort of combat or mission stress, maybe the job was getting to him? Whatever it was his normally calm, cool and collected mellow demeanor seemed to be rattled and also off kilter.
~They had not even had their honey moon yet.......~ Thought Rick to himself then berated himself for letting such random thoughts, more of which had been slipping through lately, in.
He was tired there was no doubt of that, and yeah he was maybe suffering from some sort of mission stress but he could not shake off the feeling that something else was wrong....maybe he needed to speak to a counselor again?
Maybe it something else? He had been thinking a lot about the future recently since they had had the kids staying with them he had been thinking more and more about kids....and how it could work? Yes starfleet officers raised families all the time, Rick was a good example of that, but he had more of a dangerous job than most. But he loved flying and he could not imagine doing anything else and if they had kids would he have to quit flying.....he couldn't imagine where his skills were applicable on civy street. He wanted kids more than anything else and he loved the idea...but he loved flying too.
Whatever he needed to do he most definitely needed to find Chelsea sit down with her and find out just what was going on.
OFF:
Chief Medical Officer/Second Officer
Commander Chelsea Dunham
&
CAG Squadron Leader
Lieutenant Commander Richard Dunham