Deception: The lesser part of Valour – The Importance Of Family Part 2
by Lieutenant Ryan Milarno & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
ON:
Chelsea left Isha at her quarters and began to walk back towards her own. She walked quickly at first with a sense of purpose but as she crossed the hallways and stood in the lift she thought about Ryan and began to feel bad about being 'out on the town' without him while he was having an early night.
She thought twice about waking him, but then by the time she had got near her quarters she couldn't resist just peeping in to see if he wanted a goodnight hug.
When he didn't answer the chime she assumed he was asleep, entered her pass code and slipped in.
She was expecting him to be in bed but on searching and finding the room empty she sat on the bed looking puzzled.
Still dressed to kill ... although not literally..... She was just thinking she ought to just slide out so he wouldn't know she'd intruded into the *space* he'd asked for when she heard him come in. She froze. What if he was mad with her for being there when he'd said he didn't want to see her tonight?
Ryan was in fact in the bathroom, scurrying around his med kit quickly, he had removed his top and stood looking at himself in the mirror, he was a mess and he needed to heal his wounds quickly. He didn't hear anyone come in. He looked down at his arms and hands, they were still covered in blood some of Raedheol's aswell, which would be specially noticed as it was green. He sighed and activated the sink by pulling it out...
Hearing the sink mechanism, Chelsea nearly jumped out of her skin. Her guilty conscience and attempts to sneak back out again were making her jumpy. She stood up and went to the door of the living space and tried to calculate if she could get to the door and leave without being noticed.
Ryan winced in pain as the cold water ran over his cut knuckles, but he needed to do this, he stopped, thinking he had heard something outside the door. He remained quiet but as he moved to sit on the bench, until he was sure no one was there, he grabbed a dermal regenerator out of the med kit, but the whole box fell on the floor causing a loud clunk as it hit the floor and then all the items falling out of it. ~Damn! ~ He cursed himself. He was paranoid enough already, he really wished no one was outside.
Chelsea heard the clunk and didn't know what to do. If she went to see if he was ok, he'd know she was there... if she tried to leave and he caught her, it'd be worse.... what were the chances she could sneak out unheard and un-detected... ~pretty slim, you have to own up!~ she thought.
"Ry? You ok sweetheart?" she called through the door. She'd never forgive herself if that was his head hitting the floor or something like that; she had to see if he was ok.
Ryan jumped and he stood up. "C-Chels...do-don't come in...Just don’t..." he warned her, he sounded panicky and he moved quickly picking the medical instruments up and placing them back in the box.
"O......kaaay!" she replied with a long hesitation. "But you *ARE* okay, right? I mean, not bleeding to death or anything?"
All Ryan did was laugh.
Chelsea looked really worried now. ~He didn't deny that... it was a joke... but he didn't deny it... oh stop being paranoid...of course he didn’t... it was ridiculous....! ~ She argued with herself nervously.
He activated the tricorder and the dermal regenerator simultaneously and began to scan himself and heal the wounds at the same time.
Chelsea knew the sound of the gentle hum with the periodic murmured bleep. It was the tool of her trade so she would know its sound anywhere, no matter how un-noticeable it might be to anyone non-medical.
"Ry, just promise me you haven't been punching mirrors again, please?" she asked.
"No...not mirrors..." he answered as he focussed on his repairs.
"What then?" she was getting increasingly anxious now.
"Ryan, please... you're worrying me. Tell me what the matter is. Look, I know i was supposed to give you space, but.... if you're hurt.... and why won't you let me help?"
Ryan slammed the tricorder down and pressed the panel by the door, opened it. "There you go..." then he had realised what he had actually done by letting her see him.
Chelsea looked at the state he was in and began to think he'd hurt himself again, like he did when he first found out he was half Bajoran. Then she saw the green blood. Her mouth fell open and she just stood there speechless.
"So..." he breathed in. "Not so perfect now am I?"
Chelsea stood there in her tight outfit, her hair still swept into the evening style with the ringlets and the bejewelled earring, her heels, full war-paint and a ridiculous little clutch bag stuffed with poker chips and just stared. She wasn't quite sure which of them looked the most out of character.
He was disappointed in himself and he had let her down. Raedheol deserved everything he got that night, but Ryan was a doctor. He walked into the living area, past Chelsea. "Do no harm..." he said to himself as he walked to the replicator.
"You might not want to hear this Chelsea, but I got into that fight for us..." he told her from the other side of the room.
".. Left him? ... Where? .... Do no harm? What have you done?" She spluttered, lost.
"A cargo hold on one of the lower decks, we were fighting, I kicked him away from me and he hit his head, he was barely conscious when I left..."
Chelsea shivered. "He'll be fine. Nothing gets through that man's hide! If he *is* a man.. half-demon I shouldn't wonder... wait... what were you two doing on the lower decks? And what possessed you to take him on... or did he attack you?" Chelsea's blood was rising at the thought that Raedheol might have attacked Ryan, as this was the only thing she could imagine must have happened.
"I'll go down and finish him off personally if he thinks he can just lay into you like that... “ She began, getting herself really angry.
"And to think in the Casino tonight I was even beginning to think he has his good points after all...."
"I took a walk, ended up on the lower decks, I saw him walking somewhere so I followed him, we had a little discussion and things got worse, and we ended up fighting...I don't like him Chelsea, and...And I don't want him anywhere near you..."
"Will you help me...please?" he asked, letting down his barriers.
Chelsea melted. "You know I'd do anything for you Ryan... “ She looked at him with love in her eyes.
She took the regenerator from him and set to work.
Ryan sat himself at one of the dining table chairs as Chelsea worked. "I'm not sorry for protecting you,
I'm just sorry another night yet again had to end with some drama..." he sighed, averting his eyes to the floor.
"Why did you have to protect me? What happened Ryan?" she asked as she worked.
"I don't know he just wound me up about you and him...I know none of it was true but it stung and I cracked, I could have killed him..."
Chelsea look at him, her head tilted a little, her eyes full of emotion. "What are you like?" she murmured, kissing his mended forehead. "I know how good he is at antagonising, and I know how much he enjoys hurting people. I'm just so relieved and happy you're alright.... well, relatively! He's such a dangerous man, Ry. If you heard half of what Isha says about him... “she explained.
"...I'd be a dead man? Yeah that's what he promised me before I left the cargo hold..."
“Oh God!" she whimpered turning pale.
"He won't kill me Chels...he won't get the chance, this has gotten too deep now..."
He looked at her. "I'M in too deep..."
Chelsea could bear no more; she dropped the regenerator and threw herself into his arms, shaking. "You don't know him, he'll wait a life time for revenge if he thinks he's been put down, and he's part of some Romulan secret order that is above the law, even in their own Empire. If anything ever happened to you Ryan I'd die... i really would." She buried her head in his shoulder.
“I’m gonna be ok...lets get this done and get to bed yeah?” he asked.
Chelsea pulled herself together. The stimulant she had taken earlier had worn off and she was so tired she couldn't have done much more anyway, despite all her brave words about finishing Raedheol off.
She picked up the medical tools and set back to work, quickly and skilfully fixing Ryan's injuries one by one, layer by layer until he was as good as new.
"There" she said, almost completely done in. She flopped onto the chair beside him, wondering if she might be too tired to get to the bedroom right now.
Ryan smiled and looked at her, and took her arm. He stood up. "Come on...you're staying here tonight..." he said as he pulled her up.
Chelsea fluttered her eyelashes at him. "My, doctor! What *do* you mean?" she put on pretending to be shy but her eyes told him she was being mischievous.
"You know exactly what I mean..." he smirked as he turned and started walking towards his bedroom.
Chelsea teetered back up onto her high heels and followed him, playfully shoving him as he neared the bed.
"You know, it's kinda sweet that you'd get into a duel over me!" she giggled, running a fingertip over the edges of his tattered top and nestling against him.
Ryan grinned. "Yeah?" he asked as he started to unzip his uniform.
"My hero!" she purred, interfering as he undid the zip, not with any intention of stopping him, quite the contrary. Grinning as he allowed her to slip her fingers between his own, she reached up and undid the clip holding her hair aloft in the intricate curled style that collapsed like an avalanche once its main stay was removed.
The tsunami of curls washed over her shoulders, drawing attention to the asymmetrical off-one-shoulder dress she was wearing as the falling hair bounced over the bare skin of her left arm.
"Mmmm" he sounded with a grin. His arms were still inside his uniform but he managed to get them out and he put them around Chelsea as he kissed her neck.
Chelsea melted at the touch of his lips on her neck, her knees weakening by the second. "Mmmm" she whispered. "Now, about your reward for being the bravest knight in the whole Kingdom!"
Within that second, something flashed before Ryan's eyes, the image of Raedheol in the same position Ryan was now, and something Chelsea said earlier seemed to come together and he jumped, he shook his head. "No..." he said and moved her off him gently and stormed off the bed and into the living area.
"Ryan?" Chelsea was stunned. She ran after him. "What is it?"
She had no idea what was wrong with him suddenly.
"It all fits together...what you said..." he said as he paced the floor. "You and Him...you thought he was actually a good man tonight did you? Was that before he left you at the casino?"
"No, after..." she admitted honestly with no clue what sort of picture Ryan was putting together. She hadn't realised that he didn't know yet that she was out with Isha.
"Oh come on!!! You two are messing with my head, no wonder I'm screwed up right now...have fun with him tonight did you?"
"What? Fun? He wasn't..... “She was about to say *even invited* but then a light came on in her head and something finally dawned on her. She stood still as if he had slapped her.
"RYAN!" she was horrified. "Do you seriously.........? Did you just........." she couldn't finish a sentence as it all suddenly fell into place what he appeared to be thinking.
"DID I JUST WHAT CHELSEA!!!?!!?!?!" he shouted.
Chelsea pulled herself up to her full height, which was still a fair bit short of his and she walked right over to him, almost menacingly.
"Did you think I went out tonight with Raedheol? I mean... *went out* on a date??" Her face was furious. "Did you think.............even for a moment......... that I would go out on a date with ANY other man when you and I are... well, what are we Ry, if you're so willing and ready to think such a thing?" She challenged him, oblivious to the danger in his eyes.
"Well by your reaction it seems not..." the danger within his eyes disappearing quickly. "Why is he doing this to me...us? What have we done to deserve this? Hmmm?"
As he seemed to be calming down, so Chelsea backed up on him a bit. "I'm hurt that you even thought it, Ryan. I went out with Isha and he turned up uninvited and was sent packing." She explained, her anger gone. "I don't know what we did, but I suspect I brought this on us by befriending Isha, or her befriending me... whichever it was, but I do like her such a lot and I don't want her love for Raedheol to get between any of us. He's a bastard, but he does care about her, I know that." She explained, looking up into Ryan's eyes to see if he seemed to understand what she was trying to say or not.
He nodded. "I'm sorry for accusing you...I dunno what happened, I just got an image in my head of him and you when we were in the bedroom and that was just the icing on the cake, especially after the day I've had...so I am really sorry, I do trust you Chels...it's just him I don't trust..."
"He's not interested in me, Ry, he only pretends just to antagonise you. He's in love with Isha, although he'll never admit it, neither of them will. I think it's rather sad." She said, not really having all the full story about the two Romulans but having a skeleton of facts over which she had put her own assumptions and/or misunderstandings of how their relationship worked.
".... and you'd better trust me.... “She began to blush, or I'll be allowed to stop paying for being so jealous this afternoon, she shot him a slightly guilty look from under her lowered, long dark lashes.
"I do trust you and about this afternoon, me and Laura we're just dance partners...nothing more to it" he smiled. And then yawned "Oh..." he chuckled. "Excuse me"
"I know, you told me about Laura and I'm sorry." she sighed, cursing herself inwardly for being moody with him today when he'd been through so much lately.
"Ryan, you're exhausted, I'm exhausted... what do you say we curl up together, sleep it off and wake up refreshed tomorrow.... " she reached up and touched his cheek lovingly.
Then, taking his hand gently, she led him back to the bedroom, but this time she made no advances, she just got undressed and took off her make up, then curled up in his arms, blissfully content to just enjoy the warmth of his body against hers and listen to the rhythm of his heart beating.
What she had in mind for when they woke up, was another matter though.....
OFF:
Lt. JG Rachel Milarno
Written By Ryan & Chelsea
by Lieutenant Ryan Milarno & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
| Title | The Importance Of Family Part 2 | |
| Mission | Deception: The lesser part of Valour | |
| Author(s) | Lieutenant Ryan Milarno & Commander Chelsea Dunham | |
| Posted | Fri Dec 19, 2008 @ 12:35am | |
| Location | CMO Quarters |
Chelsea left Isha at her quarters and began to walk back towards her own. She walked quickly at first with a sense of purpose but as she crossed the hallways and stood in the lift she thought about Ryan and began to feel bad about being 'out on the town' without him while he was having an early night.
She thought twice about waking him, but then by the time she had got near her quarters she couldn't resist just peeping in to see if he wanted a goodnight hug.
When he didn't answer the chime she assumed he was asleep, entered her pass code and slipped in.
She was expecting him to be in bed but on searching and finding the room empty she sat on the bed looking puzzled.
Still dressed to kill ... although not literally..... She was just thinking she ought to just slide out so he wouldn't know she'd intruded into the *space* he'd asked for when she heard him come in. She froze. What if he was mad with her for being there when he'd said he didn't want to see her tonight?
Ryan was in fact in the bathroom, scurrying around his med kit quickly, he had removed his top and stood looking at himself in the mirror, he was a mess and he needed to heal his wounds quickly. He didn't hear anyone come in. He looked down at his arms and hands, they were still covered in blood some of Raedheol's aswell, which would be specially noticed as it was green. He sighed and activated the sink by pulling it out...
Hearing the sink mechanism, Chelsea nearly jumped out of her skin. Her guilty conscience and attempts to sneak back out again were making her jumpy. She stood up and went to the door of the living space and tried to calculate if she could get to the door and leave without being noticed.
Ryan winced in pain as the cold water ran over his cut knuckles, but he needed to do this, he stopped, thinking he had heard something outside the door. He remained quiet but as he moved to sit on the bench, until he was sure no one was there, he grabbed a dermal regenerator out of the med kit, but the whole box fell on the floor causing a loud clunk as it hit the floor and then all the items falling out of it. ~Damn! ~ He cursed himself. He was paranoid enough already, he really wished no one was outside.
Chelsea heard the clunk and didn't know what to do. If she went to see if he was ok, he'd know she was there... if she tried to leave and he caught her, it'd be worse.... what were the chances she could sneak out unheard and un-detected... ~pretty slim, you have to own up!~ she thought.
"Ry? You ok sweetheart?" she called through the door. She'd never forgive herself if that was his head hitting the floor or something like that; she had to see if he was ok.
Ryan jumped and he stood up. "C-Chels...do-don't come in...Just don’t..." he warned her, he sounded panicky and he moved quickly picking the medical instruments up and placing them back in the box.
"O......kaaay!" she replied with a long hesitation. "But you *ARE* okay, right? I mean, not bleeding to death or anything?"
All Ryan did was laugh.
Chelsea looked really worried now. ~He didn't deny that... it was a joke... but he didn't deny it... oh stop being paranoid...of course he didn’t... it was ridiculous....! ~ She argued with herself nervously.
He activated the tricorder and the dermal regenerator simultaneously and began to scan himself and heal the wounds at the same time.
Chelsea knew the sound of the gentle hum with the periodic murmured bleep. It was the tool of her trade so she would know its sound anywhere, no matter how un-noticeable it might be to anyone non-medical.
"Ry, just promise me you haven't been punching mirrors again, please?" she asked.
"No...not mirrors..." he answered as he focussed on his repairs.
"What then?" she was getting increasingly anxious now.
"Ryan, please... you're worrying me. Tell me what the matter is. Look, I know i was supposed to give you space, but.... if you're hurt.... and why won't you let me help?"
Ryan slammed the tricorder down and pressed the panel by the door, opened it. "There you go..." then he had realised what he had actually done by letting her see him.
Chelsea looked at the state he was in and began to think he'd hurt himself again, like he did when he first found out he was half Bajoran. Then she saw the green blood. Her mouth fell open and she just stood there speechless.
"So..." he breathed in. "Not so perfect now am I?"
Chelsea stood there in her tight outfit, her hair still swept into the evening style with the ringlets and the bejewelled earring, her heels, full war-paint and a ridiculous little clutch bag stuffed with poker chips and just stared. She wasn't quite sure which of them looked the most out of character.
He was disappointed in himself and he had let her down. Raedheol deserved everything he got that night, but Ryan was a doctor. He walked into the living area, past Chelsea. "Do no harm..." he said to himself as he walked to the replicator.
"You might not want to hear this Chelsea, but I got into that fight for us..." he told her from the other side of the room.
".. Left him? ... Where? .... Do no harm? What have you done?" She spluttered, lost.
"A cargo hold on one of the lower decks, we were fighting, I kicked him away from me and he hit his head, he was barely conscious when I left..."
Chelsea shivered. "He'll be fine. Nothing gets through that man's hide! If he *is* a man.. half-demon I shouldn't wonder... wait... what were you two doing on the lower decks? And what possessed you to take him on... or did he attack you?" Chelsea's blood was rising at the thought that Raedheol might have attacked Ryan, as this was the only thing she could imagine must have happened.
"I'll go down and finish him off personally if he thinks he can just lay into you like that... “ She began, getting herself really angry.
"And to think in the Casino tonight I was even beginning to think he has his good points after all...."
"I took a walk, ended up on the lower decks, I saw him walking somewhere so I followed him, we had a little discussion and things got worse, and we ended up fighting...I don't like him Chelsea, and...And I don't want him anywhere near you..."
"Will you help me...please?" he asked, letting down his barriers.
Chelsea melted. "You know I'd do anything for you Ryan... “ She looked at him with love in her eyes.
She took the regenerator from him and set to work.
Ryan sat himself at one of the dining table chairs as Chelsea worked. "I'm not sorry for protecting you,
I'm just sorry another night yet again had to end with some drama..." he sighed, averting his eyes to the floor.
"Why did you have to protect me? What happened Ryan?" she asked as she worked.
"I don't know he just wound me up about you and him...I know none of it was true but it stung and I cracked, I could have killed him..."
Chelsea look at him, her head tilted a little, her eyes full of emotion. "What are you like?" she murmured, kissing his mended forehead. "I know how good he is at antagonising, and I know how much he enjoys hurting people. I'm just so relieved and happy you're alright.... well, relatively! He's such a dangerous man, Ry. If you heard half of what Isha says about him... “she explained.
"...I'd be a dead man? Yeah that's what he promised me before I left the cargo hold..."
“Oh God!" she whimpered turning pale.
"He won't kill me Chels...he won't get the chance, this has gotten too deep now..."
He looked at her. "I'M in too deep..."
Chelsea could bear no more; she dropped the regenerator and threw herself into his arms, shaking. "You don't know him, he'll wait a life time for revenge if he thinks he's been put down, and he's part of some Romulan secret order that is above the law, even in their own Empire. If anything ever happened to you Ryan I'd die... i really would." She buried her head in his shoulder.
“I’m gonna be ok...lets get this done and get to bed yeah?” he asked.
Chelsea pulled herself together. The stimulant she had taken earlier had worn off and she was so tired she couldn't have done much more anyway, despite all her brave words about finishing Raedheol off.
She picked up the medical tools and set back to work, quickly and skilfully fixing Ryan's injuries one by one, layer by layer until he was as good as new.
"There" she said, almost completely done in. She flopped onto the chair beside him, wondering if she might be too tired to get to the bedroom right now.
Ryan smiled and looked at her, and took her arm. He stood up. "Come on...you're staying here tonight..." he said as he pulled her up.
Chelsea fluttered her eyelashes at him. "My, doctor! What *do* you mean?" she put on pretending to be shy but her eyes told him she was being mischievous.
"You know exactly what I mean..." he smirked as he turned and started walking towards his bedroom.
Chelsea teetered back up onto her high heels and followed him, playfully shoving him as he neared the bed.
"You know, it's kinda sweet that you'd get into a duel over me!" she giggled, running a fingertip over the edges of his tattered top and nestling against him.
Ryan grinned. "Yeah?" he asked as he started to unzip his uniform.
"My hero!" she purred, interfering as he undid the zip, not with any intention of stopping him, quite the contrary. Grinning as he allowed her to slip her fingers between his own, she reached up and undid the clip holding her hair aloft in the intricate curled style that collapsed like an avalanche once its main stay was removed.
The tsunami of curls washed over her shoulders, drawing attention to the asymmetrical off-one-shoulder dress she was wearing as the falling hair bounced over the bare skin of her left arm.
"Mmmm" he sounded with a grin. His arms were still inside his uniform but he managed to get them out and he put them around Chelsea as he kissed her neck.
Chelsea melted at the touch of his lips on her neck, her knees weakening by the second. "Mmmm" she whispered. "Now, about your reward for being the bravest knight in the whole Kingdom!"
Within that second, something flashed before Ryan's eyes, the image of Raedheol in the same position Ryan was now, and something Chelsea said earlier seemed to come together and he jumped, he shook his head. "No..." he said and moved her off him gently and stormed off the bed and into the living area.
"Ryan?" Chelsea was stunned. She ran after him. "What is it?"
She had no idea what was wrong with him suddenly.
"It all fits together...what you said..." he said as he paced the floor. "You and Him...you thought he was actually a good man tonight did you? Was that before he left you at the casino?"
"No, after..." she admitted honestly with no clue what sort of picture Ryan was putting together. She hadn't realised that he didn't know yet that she was out with Isha.
"Oh come on!!! You two are messing with my head, no wonder I'm screwed up right now...have fun with him tonight did you?"
"What? Fun? He wasn't..... “She was about to say *even invited* but then a light came on in her head and something finally dawned on her. She stood still as if he had slapped her.
"RYAN!" she was horrified. "Do you seriously.........? Did you just........." she couldn't finish a sentence as it all suddenly fell into place what he appeared to be thinking.
"DID I JUST WHAT CHELSEA!!!?!!?!?!" he shouted.
Chelsea pulled herself up to her full height, which was still a fair bit short of his and she walked right over to him, almost menacingly.
"Did you think I went out tonight with Raedheol? I mean... *went out* on a date??" Her face was furious. "Did you think.............even for a moment......... that I would go out on a date with ANY other man when you and I are... well, what are we Ry, if you're so willing and ready to think such a thing?" She challenged him, oblivious to the danger in his eyes.
"Well by your reaction it seems not..." the danger within his eyes disappearing quickly. "Why is he doing this to me...us? What have we done to deserve this? Hmmm?"
As he seemed to be calming down, so Chelsea backed up on him a bit. "I'm hurt that you even thought it, Ryan. I went out with Isha and he turned up uninvited and was sent packing." She explained, her anger gone. "I don't know what we did, but I suspect I brought this on us by befriending Isha, or her befriending me... whichever it was, but I do like her such a lot and I don't want her love for Raedheol to get between any of us. He's a bastard, but he does care about her, I know that." She explained, looking up into Ryan's eyes to see if he seemed to understand what she was trying to say or not.
He nodded. "I'm sorry for accusing you...I dunno what happened, I just got an image in my head of him and you when we were in the bedroom and that was just the icing on the cake, especially after the day I've had...so I am really sorry, I do trust you Chels...it's just him I don't trust..."
"He's not interested in me, Ry, he only pretends just to antagonise you. He's in love with Isha, although he'll never admit it, neither of them will. I think it's rather sad." She said, not really having all the full story about the two Romulans but having a skeleton of facts over which she had put her own assumptions and/or misunderstandings of how their relationship worked.
".... and you'd better trust me.... “She began to blush, or I'll be allowed to stop paying for being so jealous this afternoon, she shot him a slightly guilty look from under her lowered, long dark lashes.
"I do trust you and about this afternoon, me and Laura we're just dance partners...nothing more to it" he smiled. And then yawned "Oh..." he chuckled. "Excuse me"
"I know, you told me about Laura and I'm sorry." she sighed, cursing herself inwardly for being moody with him today when he'd been through so much lately.
"Ryan, you're exhausted, I'm exhausted... what do you say we curl up together, sleep it off and wake up refreshed tomorrow.... " she reached up and touched his cheek lovingly.
Then, taking his hand gently, she led him back to the bedroom, but this time she made no advances, she just got undressed and took off her make up, then curled up in his arms, blissfully content to just enjoy the warmth of his body against hers and listen to the rhythm of his heart beating.
What she had in mind for when they woke up, was another matter though.....
OFF:
Lt. JG Rachel Milarno
Written By Ryan & Chelsea