Interlude – Breakfast at the Replimat
by Commander Richard Dunham & Lieutenant Jana Kasikova
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The replimat was a self-serve eatery where food and beverages are produced by replicators, here one could order a wide variety of food and beverages from several different replicator units. Around the replimats was a seating area. Suitable in size and seating accommodations for large social gatherings and informal meetings. Here sat Dunham poking with a fork at his portion of Pok tar, a Vulcan food that was apparently a delicacy, But Dunham wasn't to sure. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jana. He smiled warmly and waved her over to say hello.
Jana smiled and waved back, weaving her way through the tables to his. "Good Morning." She smiled and took a seat. "What is that you are eating?" She asked, placing her plate of strawberries, a chocolate covered croissant and a latte on the table.
"I'm not sure" said Dunham poking the food thoughtfully with his fork again. "Its called a Pok tar, a Vulcan food of some sort. But I swear it moved earlier." He smiled as he said that. "It's not very nice. Tastes like cold spaghetti...." He shook his head at the weirdness of the food. "Its not exactly a breakfast food is it? Anyway how are you doing Ms Kasikova?"
"It's Jana...here...take the other half of the croissant and some strawberries. It is not good to eat things that have moved on your plate first thing in the morning." She laughed and cut the croissant in half. "I have stayed mostly in my lab, avoiding life again...you?"
Dunham gladly took the half croissant and strawberries with a polite thank you. "urrrmmmm" Said Dunham in thought, not exactly sure on were to begin. "Let me think, got promoted, sort of....and oh got engaged."
"Congratulations! On both accounts." She raised her latte in toast. The ring that Damon had given her before the war felt heavy on the chain around her neck. "I am very happy for you." Jana put her best smile on her face.
Dunham gave an appreciative nod "Thank you kindly, I must admit I've never been in this place before. You know with a long term partner, someone you love and want to share your life with. Its very exciting!" Dunham was babbling a little with enthusiasm.
"Yes, I know what you are talking about. I was once there myself." Jana replied sipping away at her latte. She was truly happy for her friend and wasnt going to bring his happiness down with her own bitterness of what happened to Damon. "Have you and Chelsea set a date?"
"Not yet....it's still sinking in." Dunham smiled, he was so caught up in his own little world that he had failed to notice that little comment she had made about 'I was once there myself' Later Dunham would reprimand himself when he went over the conversation in his head. He prided himself on being a good person to talk to.
"If Chelsea needs any help tell her she can get in touch with me. I have planned more than one wedding and I would be happy to help." Jana had let that slip before she could stop herself, she hadn't helped plan any wedding for any of her friends since Damon and now she was offering help to a woman that she only knew through Rick. Perhaps Chelsea wouldn't want her help...or worse she would and Jana wouldn't have much choice. She would make the best of it as she always had and she was determined to help her friend's fiancee if Chelsea wanted. It was time to stop wallowing in one's own self-pity.
"Well I think after it has sunk in a bit more and we actually start planning the wedding, then I would be more than happy to suggest your help to her. Though To be honest there is still loads to think about." Dunham started listing some major points on his fingers. "Do we have the wedding on earth, Bajor or the station. Will it be traditonal Bajoran or Budhist? Who do we invite?" He shoulders slumped a little. "Bloody hell, so much to think about."
"Why not have both ceremonies? Have it wherever you want Rick. Wherever you have your friends and family will come and support you. Don't worry, yes it can be overwhelming but honestly, enjoy every minute of it. Your friends and family will help you any way they can." Jana smiled.
Dunham shrugged. "I dunno...I have not thought that far ahead yet. But I will have to think about the guests, if we mix those two religions into one ceremony its. going to be looooong" Dunham smiled.
"Yes, better to have fun than to bore your guests into a comatose state." She winked and started giggling.
Dunham laughed and chuckled at the joke he then smiled. The little joke eased the tension he had been feeling over the wedding preparations. "And then we have the family to worry about.....Ok rephrase that....we have to worry about my mother." He smiled wryly.
"Oh? Were you a mama's boy growing up?" She tried to hide her smile in her mug.
Dunham laughed. "Far from it, but we rarely see eye to eye. In fact after our last encounter I'm surprised Chelsea wanted to even see me again let alone marry into my family, I hope she knows what she is getting into."
"Damon's family was the same way...and he thought I was going to leave because of the way his family treated me. I, apparently wasn't good enough for him and his mother did everything to break us apart...but it was an intel mission gone wrong that took him away from me." She smiled sadly.
"Intel...the last shady corner of the Federation." Dunham spoke from the heart, his sister was an intelligence officer, and she was shady at times. Dunham put a sympathetic hand on Jana's. she felt a little cold to the touch. "I'm sorry for your loss." he said quietly.
His touched burned her hand but she didn't make a move to remove it. She waved off his condolesences with her other hand and brushed away a tear that had escaped down her cheek. "It was a long time ago Rick, he was a good man that shouldn't of been treated that way by those who 'loved' him." She replied quietly.
Dunham looked into her eyes, his stare carried sympathy and understanding. "Its ok to still be sad Jana. Loosing a loved one is hard,and is for a long time."
She shook her head, his words made the tears cascade silently down her cheeks. "It is like there is a hole in my chest that will never close."
Dunham nodded and sighed a little. "And it won't I'm afraid. It will be with you for the rest of your life." Dunham held her hand a little more tightly in sympathy, trying in a way to share her pain. "But that hole in your chest." He put his hand to his chest. "Will get smaller over time, and it becomes part of you."
"It is difficult...he still haunts my dreams."
"I'm sorry, I can't be more helpful when I say it will be like that for sometime, but one day you will wake up and find your use to the pain." Dunham tried to smile.
"You have experienced this before haven't you?" She said finally, looking up at him.
Dunham nodded solemnly, but did not mention as to what he had experienced. Even many many years later he still had difficulty with the pain he felt at the death of his farther. The hand he had resting on hers, he then patted reassuringly, then withdrew to continue eating his half croissant.
"I am sorry Rick." She replied and started picking at the croissant again but not eating it. She watched the people come and go and wondered about their lives. Damon used to call her the people watcher as she could just sit and watch people go about their lives and lose track of time. A hint of a smile came to her face and she finally took a small bite of the croissant.
"See..." said Dunham noticing the smile, and smiling himself "...getting better already."
Dunham spoke around a mouthful of croissant. "And as I said the last time we met Deep Space Five is good for the soul."
"Damon used to call me the people watcher. I could (and still do) sit in places like this and just watch the people go by, I tend to lose all track of time...there are times I don't even realise that I do it." She laughed softly.
"He sounds like a wise bloke" Said Dunham around a mouthful of food. "Maybe he would want you to stay here, as their are so many people to watch." he smiled and winked. He was really beginning to get on well with Jana, and he considered her a friend. But there was something else?
"Why do you smile at me that why Rick?" She laughed.
Dunham put his elbow on the table and rested his chin on in the palm of his hand, "I don't know? Have we met before? Before Deep Space Five that is? I just think I know you from somewhere."
Jana blushed and her eyes went dark. "You really don't remember do you? When we were both on USS Agamemnon we dated for about six months..."
Dunham eye's grew wide with shock, his jaw if any closer to the surface would have hit the table from how wide it had dropped. He pushed it closed with a finger, but remained totally and utterly speechless. She was only aboard six months, and she had blonde hair back then! He remembered that a mutual female Vulcan friend had put them together. That Vulcan had been his mentor also. Dunham groaned and his head hit the table. "I'm really really sorry." he said his voice slightly muffled from the table.
Jana frowned and reached over putting her hand on his shoulder. "It's alright Rick. We loved each other a long time ago...."
"You dyed your hair" said Dunham still talking to the table. He didn't want to look up and make eye contact just yet, he was embarrassed and annoyed at himself for not been able to match the face/Name. But she was right it had been a long time ago, a very long time ago.
"Would of it made it easier for us to be friends if I was still a blond Rick? Probably not. I seem to remember you avoiding me like the plague when we broke up, I don't even know why you broke it off...it really doesn't matter now, you have Chelsea and I...I had Damon. I didn't say anything until now because I really don't have any friends on the station...I was being selfish."
"Wha.....?" Dunham's head came up, and he looked her in the eye. "I didn't break it off you did." He was sure she had, he had seen her on that space station with an Andorian, and she had never returned his call. He suddenly wished that his youth at the time hand't blinded him to some other truth and that his stubbornness hand't lead to stupidity
Jana shook her head. "I never received a call from you. I saw you in the corridor with this furious 'if looks could kill' stares and you never spoke to me again." ~I cried my eyes out for days after that.~ She thought to herself. Jana would not let him see how much it had hurt her that he simply walked away from her without speaking to her.
He had been fresh out of the academy when it had happened, they had both been very young. Still kids. But a little of that emotion from back then was returning to him now. "I tried to comm you when we were docked at Deep Space Twelve on leave to arrange that dinner we talked about? I couldn't find you, then I saw you kissing that Andorian....."
"No! I would never cheat on you Rick! How could you accuse me of something like that?!" She exclaimed. Jana replayed the events in her heard of when they were on DS12 and gasped. Her cousin Danica had stopped by to visit her before she and her Andorian got married. "My cousin Danica...she's blond and we look similar even now our family sometimes gets us confused...she married an Andorian."
Dunham's head returned to the table surface with a loud bang, followed by a guilty "Oh shit."
"A big oh shit Rick...that dinner was to be a special one wasn't it? I am not mad at you, it happened a long time ago...I am happy that you found love in Chelsea though. I had wondered for a long time whatever happened to you." She smiled, her eyes were wet with unshed tears for the both of them and what could of been but there wasn't anything that could be done now, he was in love with Chelsea and was to marry her.
"That still doesn't explain the comm that you didn't answer to arrange dinner?" he said going on the defensive. It was along time ago, and Dunham wished he could explain why he had fallen into such a disillusioned trap of stubbornness. But at the time the evidence had been stacked against her. But he had learnt some lessons from those times.
"Oh I don't know...could it been the 'stare of death' that you gave me in the corridor earlier that day? We both made mistakes Rick and we both didn't go to one another and question what happened instead we let our imaginations and tempers get the better of us."
"We were just kids. young, dumb, and in love....then heart break. For both us. For what its worth I'm sorry. Friends?" Dunham asked sincerely. He didn't want their burgeoning friendship to be destroyed before it began by ghosts of the past. Though he did make a mental note of perhaps avoiding having his ex and his fiancée in the same room together. God know what they would gossip about.
"Of course we are friends Rick, it isn't the end of the world. It looks like we have both grown up since we last saw each other...and besides you have found love again. I cannot be angry with you." She smiled.
Dunahm sighed a little wistfully, he wandered briefly on what had been lost here. He clocked it up with the many other regrets in his life. He breathed in deeply, when he exhaled he tried to purge those old feelings from his system. "Well I think we should try to find you some love then shouldn't we. Anyone on the station tickle your fancy?"
"Oh Rick!" Jana laughed, "I really don't know anyone on the starbase yet. You know what I am like when it comes to my work and how involved I can get. I push the rest of the world away...why, do you know someone how likes me?" She didn't understand anyone who would, Jana hadn't really been on the starbase that long.
"Honey with those looks" he pointed at her and smiled reassuringly. "It ain't going to be a problem."
Off:
Lt Rick Dunham
&
Lt jg Jana Kasikova
by Commander Richard Dunham & Lieutenant Jana Kasikova
Post Details
| Title | Breakfast at the Replimat | |
| Mission | Interlude | |
| Author(s) | Commander Richard Dunham & Lieutenant Jana Kasikova | |
| Posted | Tue Aug 24, 2010 @ 8:08pm | |
| Location | Promenade | |
| Timeline | Current. |
The replimat was a self-serve eatery where food and beverages are produced by replicators, here one could order a wide variety of food and beverages from several different replicator units. Around the replimats was a seating area. Suitable in size and seating accommodations for large social gatherings and informal meetings. Here sat Dunham poking with a fork at his portion of Pok tar, a Vulcan food that was apparently a delicacy, But Dunham wasn't to sure. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jana. He smiled warmly and waved her over to say hello.
Jana smiled and waved back, weaving her way through the tables to his. "Good Morning." She smiled and took a seat. "What is that you are eating?" She asked, placing her plate of strawberries, a chocolate covered croissant and a latte on the table.
"I'm not sure" said Dunham poking the food thoughtfully with his fork again. "Its called a Pok tar, a Vulcan food of some sort. But I swear it moved earlier." He smiled as he said that. "It's not very nice. Tastes like cold spaghetti...." He shook his head at the weirdness of the food. "Its not exactly a breakfast food is it? Anyway how are you doing Ms Kasikova?"
"It's Jana...here...take the other half of the croissant and some strawberries. It is not good to eat things that have moved on your plate first thing in the morning." She laughed and cut the croissant in half. "I have stayed mostly in my lab, avoiding life again...you?"
Dunham gladly took the half croissant and strawberries with a polite thank you. "urrrmmmm" Said Dunham in thought, not exactly sure on were to begin. "Let me think, got promoted, sort of....and oh got engaged."
"Congratulations! On both accounts." She raised her latte in toast. The ring that Damon had given her before the war felt heavy on the chain around her neck. "I am very happy for you." Jana put her best smile on her face.
Dunham gave an appreciative nod "Thank you kindly, I must admit I've never been in this place before. You know with a long term partner, someone you love and want to share your life with. Its very exciting!" Dunham was babbling a little with enthusiasm.
"Yes, I know what you are talking about. I was once there myself." Jana replied sipping away at her latte. She was truly happy for her friend and wasnt going to bring his happiness down with her own bitterness of what happened to Damon. "Have you and Chelsea set a date?"
"Not yet....it's still sinking in." Dunham smiled, he was so caught up in his own little world that he had failed to notice that little comment she had made about 'I was once there myself' Later Dunham would reprimand himself when he went over the conversation in his head. He prided himself on being a good person to talk to.
"If Chelsea needs any help tell her she can get in touch with me. I have planned more than one wedding and I would be happy to help." Jana had let that slip before she could stop herself, she hadn't helped plan any wedding for any of her friends since Damon and now she was offering help to a woman that she only knew through Rick. Perhaps Chelsea wouldn't want her help...or worse she would and Jana wouldn't have much choice. She would make the best of it as she always had and she was determined to help her friend's fiancee if Chelsea wanted. It was time to stop wallowing in one's own self-pity.
"Well I think after it has sunk in a bit more and we actually start planning the wedding, then I would be more than happy to suggest your help to her. Though To be honest there is still loads to think about." Dunham started listing some major points on his fingers. "Do we have the wedding on earth, Bajor or the station. Will it be traditonal Bajoran or Budhist? Who do we invite?" He shoulders slumped a little. "Bloody hell, so much to think about."
"Why not have both ceremonies? Have it wherever you want Rick. Wherever you have your friends and family will come and support you. Don't worry, yes it can be overwhelming but honestly, enjoy every minute of it. Your friends and family will help you any way they can." Jana smiled.
Dunham shrugged. "I dunno...I have not thought that far ahead yet. But I will have to think about the guests, if we mix those two religions into one ceremony its. going to be looooong" Dunham smiled.
"Yes, better to have fun than to bore your guests into a comatose state." She winked and started giggling.
Dunham laughed and chuckled at the joke he then smiled. The little joke eased the tension he had been feeling over the wedding preparations. "And then we have the family to worry about.....Ok rephrase that....we have to worry about my mother." He smiled wryly.
"Oh? Were you a mama's boy growing up?" She tried to hide her smile in her mug.
Dunham laughed. "Far from it, but we rarely see eye to eye. In fact after our last encounter I'm surprised Chelsea wanted to even see me again let alone marry into my family, I hope she knows what she is getting into."
"Damon's family was the same way...and he thought I was going to leave because of the way his family treated me. I, apparently wasn't good enough for him and his mother did everything to break us apart...but it was an intel mission gone wrong that took him away from me." She smiled sadly.
"Intel...the last shady corner of the Federation." Dunham spoke from the heart, his sister was an intelligence officer, and she was shady at times. Dunham put a sympathetic hand on Jana's. she felt a little cold to the touch. "I'm sorry for your loss." he said quietly.
His touched burned her hand but she didn't make a move to remove it. She waved off his condolesences with her other hand and brushed away a tear that had escaped down her cheek. "It was a long time ago Rick, he was a good man that shouldn't of been treated that way by those who 'loved' him." She replied quietly.
Dunham looked into her eyes, his stare carried sympathy and understanding. "Its ok to still be sad Jana. Loosing a loved one is hard,and is for a long time."
She shook her head, his words made the tears cascade silently down her cheeks. "It is like there is a hole in my chest that will never close."
Dunham nodded and sighed a little. "And it won't I'm afraid. It will be with you for the rest of your life." Dunham held her hand a little more tightly in sympathy, trying in a way to share her pain. "But that hole in your chest." He put his hand to his chest. "Will get smaller over time, and it becomes part of you."
"It is difficult...he still haunts my dreams."
"I'm sorry, I can't be more helpful when I say it will be like that for sometime, but one day you will wake up and find your use to the pain." Dunham tried to smile.
"You have experienced this before haven't you?" She said finally, looking up at him.
Dunham nodded solemnly, but did not mention as to what he had experienced. Even many many years later he still had difficulty with the pain he felt at the death of his farther. The hand he had resting on hers, he then patted reassuringly, then withdrew to continue eating his half croissant.
"I am sorry Rick." She replied and started picking at the croissant again but not eating it. She watched the people come and go and wondered about their lives. Damon used to call her the people watcher as she could just sit and watch people go about their lives and lose track of time. A hint of a smile came to her face and she finally took a small bite of the croissant.
"See..." said Dunham noticing the smile, and smiling himself "...getting better already."
Dunham spoke around a mouthful of croissant. "And as I said the last time we met Deep Space Five is good for the soul."
"Damon used to call me the people watcher. I could (and still do) sit in places like this and just watch the people go by, I tend to lose all track of time...there are times I don't even realise that I do it." She laughed softly.
"He sounds like a wise bloke" Said Dunham around a mouthful of food. "Maybe he would want you to stay here, as their are so many people to watch." he smiled and winked. He was really beginning to get on well with Jana, and he considered her a friend. But there was something else?
"Why do you smile at me that why Rick?" She laughed.
Dunham put his elbow on the table and rested his chin on in the palm of his hand, "I don't know? Have we met before? Before Deep Space Five that is? I just think I know you from somewhere."
Jana blushed and her eyes went dark. "You really don't remember do you? When we were both on USS Agamemnon we dated for about six months..."
Dunham eye's grew wide with shock, his jaw if any closer to the surface would have hit the table from how wide it had dropped. He pushed it closed with a finger, but remained totally and utterly speechless. She was only aboard six months, and she had blonde hair back then! He remembered that a mutual female Vulcan friend had put them together. That Vulcan had been his mentor also. Dunham groaned and his head hit the table. "I'm really really sorry." he said his voice slightly muffled from the table.
Jana frowned and reached over putting her hand on his shoulder. "It's alright Rick. We loved each other a long time ago...."
"You dyed your hair" said Dunham still talking to the table. He didn't want to look up and make eye contact just yet, he was embarrassed and annoyed at himself for not been able to match the face/Name. But she was right it had been a long time ago, a very long time ago.
"Would of it made it easier for us to be friends if I was still a blond Rick? Probably not. I seem to remember you avoiding me like the plague when we broke up, I don't even know why you broke it off...it really doesn't matter now, you have Chelsea and I...I had Damon. I didn't say anything until now because I really don't have any friends on the station...I was being selfish."
"Wha.....?" Dunham's head came up, and he looked her in the eye. "I didn't break it off you did." He was sure she had, he had seen her on that space station with an Andorian, and she had never returned his call. He suddenly wished that his youth at the time hand't blinded him to some other truth and that his stubbornness hand't lead to stupidity
Jana shook her head. "I never received a call from you. I saw you in the corridor with this furious 'if looks could kill' stares and you never spoke to me again." ~I cried my eyes out for days after that.~ She thought to herself. Jana would not let him see how much it had hurt her that he simply walked away from her without speaking to her.
He had been fresh out of the academy when it had happened, they had both been very young. Still kids. But a little of that emotion from back then was returning to him now. "I tried to comm you when we were docked at Deep Space Twelve on leave to arrange that dinner we talked about? I couldn't find you, then I saw you kissing that Andorian....."
"No! I would never cheat on you Rick! How could you accuse me of something like that?!" She exclaimed. Jana replayed the events in her heard of when they were on DS12 and gasped. Her cousin Danica had stopped by to visit her before she and her Andorian got married. "My cousin Danica...she's blond and we look similar even now our family sometimes gets us confused...she married an Andorian."
Dunham's head returned to the table surface with a loud bang, followed by a guilty "Oh shit."
"A big oh shit Rick...that dinner was to be a special one wasn't it? I am not mad at you, it happened a long time ago...I am happy that you found love in Chelsea though. I had wondered for a long time whatever happened to you." She smiled, her eyes were wet with unshed tears for the both of them and what could of been but there wasn't anything that could be done now, he was in love with Chelsea and was to marry her.
"That still doesn't explain the comm that you didn't answer to arrange dinner?" he said going on the defensive. It was along time ago, and Dunham wished he could explain why he had fallen into such a disillusioned trap of stubbornness. But at the time the evidence had been stacked against her. But he had learnt some lessons from those times.
"Oh I don't know...could it been the 'stare of death' that you gave me in the corridor earlier that day? We both made mistakes Rick and we both didn't go to one another and question what happened instead we let our imaginations and tempers get the better of us."
"We were just kids. young, dumb, and in love....then heart break. For both us. For what its worth I'm sorry. Friends?" Dunham asked sincerely. He didn't want their burgeoning friendship to be destroyed before it began by ghosts of the past. Though he did make a mental note of perhaps avoiding having his ex and his fiancée in the same room together. God know what they would gossip about.
"Of course we are friends Rick, it isn't the end of the world. It looks like we have both grown up since we last saw each other...and besides you have found love again. I cannot be angry with you." She smiled.
Dunahm sighed a little wistfully, he wandered briefly on what had been lost here. He clocked it up with the many other regrets in his life. He breathed in deeply, when he exhaled he tried to purge those old feelings from his system. "Well I think we should try to find you some love then shouldn't we. Anyone on the station tickle your fancy?"
"Oh Rick!" Jana laughed, "I really don't know anyone on the starbase yet. You know what I am like when it comes to my work and how involved I can get. I push the rest of the world away...why, do you know someone how likes me?" She didn't understand anyone who would, Jana hadn't really been on the starbase that long.
"Honey with those looks" he pointed at her and smiled reassuringly. "It ain't going to be a problem."
Off:
Lt Rick Dunham
&
Lt jg Jana Kasikova