Consistent Uncertainties

Posted on 15 Nov 2022 @ 9:01pm by Lieutenant JG Ian Beckett & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale

1,990 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Regrouping
Location: Black Hawk Lounge
Timeline: MD 2 || Evening

Ian couldn’t believe it. A brand new class of ship, the second to bear the name Black Hawk, and it had already been decommissioned. Somebody somewhere had epically failed at their job...or so he thought. He now sat in the lounge of a third iteration of the Black Hawk, wondering. Wondering why so many people left. Wondering who was coming to replace them...if they would even be replaced. Wondering what life would hold now.

He stared at the wall across the room, thinking. There wasn’t much difference in his mind between what was happening now and what had happened to him before coming aboard the Black Hawk. He’d been betrayed then by traitors to Starfleet and now felt the same by Starfleet itself. They’d sent another Chief Transporter Operator to the ship and transferred him to Engineering. He was an Operations officer and had been for a long time. And why in the hell couldn’t they keep a ship and crew together and working?! Kelly was even gone. But there was one constant in all of this, Camila. At least she hadn’t left or gotten orders or whatever. He threw back another shot of Tequila, well, sythehol Tequila. The taste was there, but nothing else. Damn shame, too.

Another ship, Camila fumed as she stalked through the corridors of yet another Black Hawk, this one the B. Maybe they should get the idea and put the cursed name on the list to not name a ship she mentally growled. She saw the lounge ahead and headed for it. Maybe she'd be lucky and find some Security person in there goofing off and she could tear them a new one and burn off some of her frustration.

Instead, she saw Ian tossing some drink or another back and a soft smile came to her lips. Ian made her smile, laugh and relax. She felt like she could let her constant guard down with him and just...just be a person instead of a Security Chief on a cursed ship. She shoved that aside and kept the smile on as she headed over to where he was. "Drinking alone, stranger?" she asked.

Ian didn't need to look up to see who was talking to him. He'd know that voice anywhere. A goofy grin popped on his face as he said, "I was. Drinking is about all it is though...synthehol doesn't do jack. May as well be flavored water." He moved the bottle off to the side. "Have a seat Hotshot." He put his foot against the seat of the opposite chair and pushed it out from underneath the table. "It'd be great to have company right now."

"Heh. thanks, Huntsman," she said as she flopped down in the offered chair and scooted it forward. She put her elbows on the table and eyed the synthohol. "Can't even touch that anymore," she sighed. "Such is life. I'm really fun company, aren't I, Ian?"

He chuckled and leaned forward, whispering. "I think this might be about as much 'fun' as anyone is for a while. What with everything that's happened." He smiled, winked, and leaned back. "But no more of that talk. You're company and that's what matters. As far as fun, you and I've been able to come up with some of that on our own. Bet we can do it again."

"If there's time," Camila said and reached over to take one of his hands and gave a small squeeze. She had found a lot of reasons to touch him in the past few weeks; a reassuring hand squeeze, a high five, a shoulder or hip bump. She told herself that it was all Hotshot and Huntsman, but Camila was liking Ian a lot more and that brought a smile to her face. "But we'll make it if I have to double up on drones and assign double shifts just to make that time."

Ian smiled at the touch of Camila's hand. Hell, he'd smiled at all the little squeezes and high fives. But the bumps of shoulders and hips is what brought a grin to his face. The recent downtime hadn't really been downtime as everyone was busy. Things seemed rushed to Ian. Except this. This didn't seem rushed at all. It was just...happening. And that wasn't a bad thing. He rubbed the top of her hand with his other one. "Oh I know you will. We'll find the time and something to do. We always do."

"There has to be fun some time," she admitted. "I know that this ship has changed me, but deep inside, I still want to be that girl that carved her initials in the stone in the St Mark's Basilica at the Piazza San Marco." She laughed at the memory. "I got in so much trouble for that."

Ian released Camila's hand and laughed with her. "Tell me all about it," he said. "Were you even allowed to go back outside afterwards? Or did the authorities get involved? Wait, how old were you when you started stone carving?"

"I was sixteen, yes and no," Camila said, a little disappointed that he let her hand go, but she smiled. "However, I had to work many hours to get it refaced."

"You know," he said, "with the holodeck, you can be that girl again. Well, at least a more grown up version of that girl. But this time, you'll have a look-out." He smiled and winked. "This time, you might not get caught. This time, no refacing. And this time, there'll be some place else to run to rather than back home." Ian made a sweeping gesture with his hands as if headlining a FNN story. "Mysterious hottie and tall, dark, and handsome stranger carve initials into Italy's landmarks!"

She laughed and it was a merry, mischievous sound. "Don't think it'll be easy," she said. "I'll program in Reverendo Don Gucci in. He's the one that caught me." She made the last few words sound ominous.

Ian liked hearing Camila laugh. It made him smile...she made him smile. He got up and scooted his chair next to hers before sitting back down. "Listen," he said as he put his arm around her shoulders, "you can program in whoever you want. I don't care how hard it is, you and I are gonna have a nothing-but-fun night when we do that."

Camila smiled and bumped her shoulder against his when he scooted closer to her. "You're my favorite mushroom, Ian, because you're a fun guy." She laughed.

Ian laughed right along with her. "Yeah, it takes a while, but I kinda grow on ya." He laughed some more. "And you're my favorite person to grow on." It sounded better in his head. More corny when he said it.

She groaned. "Oh, that was horrible...but you have grown on me. I kind of like it, too."

"Hey, you know you liked it," he said as he winked at her. "I'm glad you like it. I have had a fun time...a nice time...growing on you." He reached up and mussed her hair a little before putting his arm back around her shoulders. "Did I ever tell you about the horse I learned how to ride on?"

Camila smiled and looked over at him. "No, you didn't. I had no idea that I had a real life cowboy on my hands."

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say a cowboy," said Ian with a chuckle. "But I can ride. His name was Niran. He was a fiery red chestnut stallion at just over fourteen and half hands. Beautiful Arabian horse. I was thirteen when my parents bought him for me and I started learning to ride. Heh, I even taught him a few tricks. After he died, I had a holo-programmer take all my vids and images and create a hologram of him. We even got his personality pretty close to exact."

"You had a real horse?" she gasped. "That must have been so amazing. I'm sorry he passed on. Did he ever pass on his legacy?"

"I did," he grinned. "It was pretty cool. But I don't know if he ever did pass on a legacy. I know I didn't breed him. Maybe my parents did? See, he died a year and a half into my first assignment. I suppose they could've done so then. I at least have the hologram that I can put into just about any program. Yeah, it's not the same, but it's still something of a comfort."

"I'm sorry to hear he passed on, but you'll always have the memories," Camila said and gave him a one armed hug.

Ian liked the one armed hug. It made him feel different. The touches and hand-hold's were one thing, but this...this hug was different. He leaned in to it for the duration that she left it. "Did you ever have any pets or anything like that, Camila?"

She seemed quite content to leave her arm around him, especially when he leaned into her. A flicker of her tomboy young flashed through her eyes and her eyes got brighter at the thought of asking him to be her girlfriend. Then she laughed, unable to help herself. "It doesn't work out that way, Camila,:" she told herself before she looked at him. "No, but would you be my boyfriend, Ian?

Ian heard Camila loud and clear, but it took a bit to really register. "Aw, no pets. Such a sad time for young Camila. You know, you should've...." He paused a second and turned to look at her. Bright eyes. "Boyfriend, huh. Well I think I can make that happen, Camila." He grinned. "But only if you'll be my girlfriend."

Camila smiled brightly and for the first time, leaned over and gave him a almost shy kiss. "That is how it works."

Ian was at a loss for words after Camila's almost shy kiss. This was a side of the ombre haired Security Chief that he hadn't seen, let alone experienced. Truth be told, he wouldn't mind experiencing it again. "Wow," he managed to say at last. "I'm not sure I picked up on how exactly that works. Lemme try and see." He winked and leaned in to return her kiss. "Whew, Hotshot for real."

"And you, my Huntsman, have to hunt no more," she said, still smiling.

"Well," he said as he took his arm from around her shoulders and patted her leg, "why don't we celebrate the end of my hunt and your extra hotness by doing something fun? After all, the Admirals of Fun have just begun." He smiled at Camila like he used to when he'd recommend something fun to do. But this time, there was a little difference in his playful smile. A difference of closeness that wasn't there before.

Camila heard the subtle change in his laugh and his smile. "Have you been waiting long for this, Ian?" she asked him.

"Eh, I'm not sure," he said. "A look here, a glance there, a random touch...I'd wondered. But it was going to happen when it happened I guess." He shrugged. "How about you? Did you see it coming?"

She shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I really like spending time with you and the occasional touch and bump was nice...I guess I wanted to ask to see where you stood."

"Right next to you," he said, smiling. "And I've liked all the time we've spent together, too. I guess now it'll be a little bit...well, a little bit something. We'll figure this out as we go along, won't we?"

"We will," Camila said with a smile. "A little bit."

RSS Feed