To You

Posted on 12 Mar 2020 @ 5:50pm by Lieutenant JG Daniella Blake & Commander Terry Walsh

1,961 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Sentience
Location: Quarters
Timeline: MD 1 || 2000 Hours

Dani made her way into the quarters she shared with Terry and moved over to the couch to sit down. The ship was underway once again, and people were beginning to settle back into their routines after months of being scattered all over the place, and she was no different. Her shift in sickbay had lasted a bit longer than she expected it to, but there were a few things that had changed while the Black Hawk was in drydock, and rather wait until the last second to get used to it, she'd decided to acquaint herself with it at that moment. Nothing good came from learning on the fly, and it was just a risk she didn't want to take.

Now, even as she pulled her boots off, the petite woman came to realize how much she truly missed this ship. It had become home to her, and so did the big bald pilot that captured her heart. Thinking of Terry brought a smile to her lips and put butterflies in her stomach even after a year of being together. She reached down to grab her boots and was on her feet once again, heading toward the bedroom with a shower in mind.

==A few minutes later.==

What. A. Day. He'd left these quarters this morning as a Lieutenant Commander in charge of the fighter squadron. Now he was entering them as a Commander and the Executive Officer of the whole ship. His mom would be proud and his sister would be happy for him. But the biggest surprise was going to be for Dani. He hadn't seen her when he was in Sickbay and everything had happened so quickly that he doubted she knew. He heard sounds in the bedroom and expected she was in the shower.

He was tired. Terry sat on the arm of the couch briefly enough to remove his boots and then headed to the replicator for a glass of water. He took it into the bedroom and set it down before removing his uniform top. He left the black undershirt on and stretched out on the bed for a minute. It felt good to relax.

It didn't take long for Dani to finish up in the shower and dry herself off. After wrapping a towel around herself, she walked back into the bedroom to find Terry on the bed. A smile formed on the young woman's face as she crawled onto the bed next to him. "Well, hi there. How was your day?"

He watched as Dani exited the bathroom and smiled. When she crawled onto the bed next to him, he patted her. "Hon, busy doesn't begin to describe my day," said Terry. He decided to play with his news for a minute. "I was in Sickbay earlier today and didn't see you around."

"My day was pretty busy, too. I was all over the place, so that's probably why you didn't see me earlier," she told him, leaning in to press a kiss to his cheek. Dani opened her mouth to say something more, but then she blinked. Why was he in sickbay? A hand went to his forehead to see if he felt warm as her brows furrowed. "Wait... you were in sickbay? Were you feeling sick? Did something hurt?" There were a million other questions going through her mind.

When she put her hand on his forehead, he chuckled. "Nope, not sick or hurt. Just another stop in my departmental visits. I've not been down in Medical except for physicals and had to familiarize myself with it and a lot of others. All part of Executive Officer duties."

Dani settled down on the bed and slipped her hand into his much larger one before bringing it to her lips to press a kiss to his knuckles. "I'm glad you're not sick or hurt," she spoke with a smile. It didn't take long before realization dawned on her. Her blue eyes turned toward him. "Wait... Executive Officer duties?"

He took her clasped hand and kissed the back of it. "Yeah. I walked out of here this morning the Lieutenant Commander for the fighter squadron and came home a Commander for the whole ship. Without getting into the details, you're looking at the Black Hawk's new Exec."

"You... you're the new Executive Officer of the ship?" she stammered with wide eyes. The shock only lasted for a few seconds before it was replaced with pride. Terry deserved his new position along with the new rank that came with it. "I'm so proud of you, Terry! Congratulations!" With that, Dani leaned in to kiss him soundly, a huge smile on her lips.

"Thanks, hon!" he said after she soundly kissed him. "So that's what's been keeping me busy during the day. And I should warn you, that a lot of my days might be longer now. Especially as we start with this shakedown cruise and lots of new personnel."

Dani shook her head. "Don't worry about longer hours. You have to do what you have to do, but know that I'll support you no matter what."

"I appreciate that, Dani," said Terry, rolling over. "It's going to take some getting used to, that's for sure."

"And you will get used to it. It's just going to take a little time," she said with a smile. The pride the petite woman felt was still present on her face. He was so deserving of having such a role on the ship, and being the former Squadron Commander gave him a little more experience when it came to managing certain things. "How do you feel about being the new XO?"

Terry kissed Dani on the tip of her cute little nose before he smiled, stretched and got up from the bed. "You know," he said, walking to over to a clothes drawer, "I feel okay about it. I mean, it was a surprise for sure. I also think it's going to be a challenge. But you know me, I don't back down from a challenge." He paused for a minute while he removed his pants and put on a pair of shorts. "I also feel like I could help the crew better than someone who was brought in from the outside. It's one thing for a new guy to try to cement his position as Exec, but a whole other thing for someone that's served with the same crew for a while and experienced the same things they have."

"You're right about that," she told him as she slipped from the bed and tossed her towel to the side before reaching for the t-shirt she'd taken out before climbing into the shower. "The crew trusts you, too, and that counts for a lot. We've all been through a lot, haven't we?"

The big guy sat on the edge of the bed and sighed deeply. "We have at that, we most certainly have at that." He pulled off the black undershirt and tossed it on the bed before turning to Dani. "So, what do you want for dinner? Good ole replicator can pull up almost anything."

Dani pulled her shirt on, then the rest of her clothes before she climbed onto the bed to start massaging the big guy's shoulders. "What do you think about something celebratory? I think tonight warrants it considering you were promoted this morning. Surf and turf maybe?" She suggested, but was thinking of some other ideas. "Pasta, perhaps? It's your night. What do you feel like?"

"You know babe, celebratory never crossed my mind. I think that's a great idea," he said. "And you know me, I like my meat. So let's roll with some surf and turf." He paused a minute as a thought struck him. "Celebratory! What a perfect time to break out one of the bottles of the non-replicated Domaine de la Romanée-Conti!" Terry turned as best he could and grabbed the petite blonde, twisting and pulling until he was laid back on the bed and had her in his arms. He planted a big strong kiss on her lips. "Celebratory, what a great idea."

A startled squeal left her lips when she found herself being pulled against him, but it was quickly replaced with a smile just before she returned the kiss. When they finally pulled apart, Dani settled against his muscled chest and looked up at him. "You are definitely worth celebrating, my love," she said softly. "Captain Geisler made the right choice when he chose you to be his Executive Officer, and I promise you here and now that I will never mix business with pleasure."

"That's good," he said. "About never mixing it. We can't have things happening or not happening because of us. So, I'll grab the DRC from the wine fridge. But first, I'll need to get something off of me." He reached up and began tickling Dani in the ribs.

Dani couldn't help but laugh when he started to tickle her. It got the desired results, though, as she rolled off of him and onto the bed, doing the best she could to protect her ribs. "Noooo," she cried between peals of laughter.

Terry laughed and then let up when she cried out. "Never a dull moment around here," he added with a grin. Terry patted her leg and got up from the bed. "A promotion, wine, surf and turf, and a relaxing evening before it all starts again the next day."

After slipping off of the bed, Dani stretched her arms above her head. "We ran a drill in sickbay today. Not only did we deal with the our usual patients, but there were an influx of animals, as well. It was definitely interesting, and I suppose given there are animals on board the ship, I suppose it could happen," she said, making her way into the main living area. "So, what kind of surf and turf do you want for you celebratory dinner? Steak and lobster? Chicken and shrimp?"

Terry followed her into the living area. "You know, there really are quite a few animals aboard. Makes sense that they'd have to be treated, too." He went over to the wine fridge and took out a bottle of DRC before getting two glasses. "Steak and jumbo shrimp. That sounds good. And baked sweet potato with butter and brown sugar as a side." He took the bottle and glasses to the table and set them down.

Dani smiled and made her way over to the replicator. "I'll have that on the table in just a few minutes. I hope you're hungry," she said as she began to replicate their dinner. The petite blonde couldn't speak for him, but she was beyond starving and planned to stuff her face as much as she could before the threat to explode happened.

"After a first day like this, I could eat an entire Klingon victory feast by myself," he said. Of course, there was no way the big guy could wolf all that down, but he'd sure give it a try.

Once everything was ready to go, Dani made quick work of getting the table set and gestured for him to sit. "Your feast awaits, my love. I'm so proud of you," she said, and it showed.

Terry could see the pride on her face and hear it in her voice. He poured them both a glass of wine and pulled a chair out for her. "Thanks. But now it's time for food."

Dani settled down at the table and picked up her glass. "To you," she said with a smile.

Terry grinned and winked at her. "Heh, to me. And to a long career." He clinked his glass against hers.

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