Meet the Brother

Posted on 09 Apr 2016 @ 6:04pm by Ensign Elisha Cherno

2,212 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: New Risa
Timeline: MD 5

A minute after Kelly had left the hotel bar, Xavier came back wearing a white open neck shirt and black shorts which came to his knees and a pair of sandals. "Hey there. I finally found the comm system and sent some pictures back to Earth. Mom and Dad want to meet you."

"Oh," said Elisha nervously, trying to think of a way to keep Xavi and Joel apart. "Uh... okay..."

But, too late. "Who's this?" asked Joel, his expression guarded, yet stern.

Elisha sighed. Oh, well, best to get it over with quickly. "Xavier, this is my brother, Joel," she said. "Joel, this is Xavier... uh... my um..." She took a deep breath. "My boyfriend," she finished finally.

"Yeah?" said Joel, looking surprised but pleased. "Hey, nice to meet you," he added holding out a hand to the other man, expression still guarded.

Xavier smiled and gave a firm, strong but not crushing handshake and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Joel. Your sister is a very wonderful young lady. We serve on the Black Hawk together."

"You never told me you were seeing someone," said Joel, a slight grin tugging at one corner of his mouth as he stared his little sister down.

"It's... new," said Elisha.

Xavier stepped a little closer to her. "She just agreed to be my girlfriend yesterday, Joel. Don't worry about me taking advantage of her because I'm not like that. My Abuela would box my ears forty ways from starboard and then she would get mean. Your sister is a wonderful young woman, and how could I possibly be mean to anyone who likes Doctor Who?"

"Oh, jeez!" said Joel, rolling his eyes. "Another Whovian! Ugh! This just means that now someone will get all your lame jokes about fezes and angels and... and dakels or whatever they're called."

"Daleks!" said Elisha. "They're called Daleks."

"Exterminate...exterminate!' Xavier said with a laugh. "So what are you doing out here, Joel?"

"I've got an exhibition in a couple days," he answered. "Vectorboarding," he explained, indicating the board still in his hand. After all, not EVERYBODY knew who he was- pretty much just Vectorboarders, really.

"That sounds really cool," Xavier said and looked at Elisha. "Doesn't your cadet friend do that, too?"

"Yeah, Kelly," said Elisha. "She was just here drooling. Joel's kind of a celebrity in the Vectorboarding world."

Xavier laughed. "I wish I could have seen that." He looks at Joel. "Did you want to have dinner with us tonight?"

"Absolutely," said Joel, grinning. "Come on, Lish, don't give me that look. I'll behave!"

"You'd better," warned Elisha.

Xavier looked between them. "I hope this isn't going to be a problem," he said.

"I think she's afraid I'll grill you," said Joel. "But, I figure she's an adult. She knows what she's doing. But, hurt my sister and I'll hurt you," he added with a stern face, but added a wink to let Xavi know he was joking.

"If it helps to give you peace of mind, I'm a trained Security officer in the K-9 Division of Starfleet," Xavier said.

Joel laughed. "I'm not sure if that's supposed to reassure me or frighten me," he said. "Come on, there's a table over there."

"Reassure," Xavier said with a laugh. "I have a responsibility to protect those I serve with, and that includes your sister."

"Well, that's good," said Joel, leading them to the table and holding the chair automatically for his sister. "Oh, sorry," he said to Xavi, standing aside. "That's your job now."

Xavier followed them to the table and smiled as he moved to the chair with a nod at Joel, then looked at Elisha. "M'lady Companion Elisha, for you."

Elisha grinned as she sat. "Thank you, kind sir," she said.

Joel grinned, taking the seat across from his sister. It was good to see her actually interacting with someone other than her family. He hoped this meant she was coming out of her shell a bit. "So, K-9 unit," said Joel conversationally. "What kind of dogs do you use? Or doesn't it really matter?"

Xavier pushed the sea in and took one beside of her. "I was assigned a Chow Chow," he said. "His name is Pequeño and he likes Elisha as well. He is a puppy, but growing quickly."

"Oh, man a puppy police dog!" laughed Joel. "That's too cute! I love watching the puppies learn their jobs."

"He's technically a military dog," Elisha pointed out.

"Police, military, same thing," said Joel.

"Not really," Xavier said. "He gets different training than a civilian agency would give their K-9's. He's going to be more specialized and better trained in more areas than your run-of-the-mill K-9 and have more duties."

"See?" said Elisha.

Joel laughed, waving them off. "Okay, okay," he said. "I give. But, you gotta admit, to someone like me, they look the same."

"I'll give you that," Xavier said. "I'm sure that Pequeño would forgive you as well. What got you into vectoboarding?"

"I started when I was 12," answered Joel. "My dad taught me. He used to do it when he was a kid. Then this one here wanted to come," he said, indicating Elisha. "But, she's incredibly uncoordinated. Well, she was. She's not so much anymore."

"No, she isn't," Xavier agreed before he realized how it could be taken. "When we did a Doctor Who holonovel, she saved me far more than I saved her. She has very good reflexes."

"You saved me from that tomato," she pointed out. "And George Takei. Don't forget that."

"Well, if you count the fact that Takei threw the tomato, it was only once," Xavier countered.

"True, but he would have thrown another, so I'm sure it was actually more than twice," she said. "George Takei is kind of a jerk in the Whoniverse. Of course, I have no idea what he was like in real life, so...."

"Good point, and it was my pleasure to save you from the tomato and the jerk," Xavier said. "Is everyone hungry?"

"I'm always hungry," laughed Joel.

Elisha just grinned and nodded.

"What should we get?" Xavier asked, looking at Elisha.

"Nachos," said Elisha decisively. "I saw them on the menu. They make this huge thing of nachos that can feed six people and they've got all sorts of stuff on them."

"See, that's how you can tell she's my sister," said Joel. "She sees something that can feed six people and says, 'yeah, that should be enough for the three of us.' Classic!"

"I can handle nachos," Xavier said. "I want extra hot peppers on the side, though. The hottest they have."

"As long as they're not ghost peppers," said Elisha. "Well, if they are, you can have them." She looked around for a waiter.

A waiter approached them. "May I take your orders?" he asked politely. "Or would you like the house special?" He began to describe a type of fish meal and what came with it.

They waited politely for him to finish, and then Joel said, "nah, we want those big ass nachos with all the stuff on them that can feed like six people."

"With the hottest peppers in the quadrant on the side," Xavier added. "Also, three pitchers of juice and one of ale." He looked at Joel to see if he wanted something more.

"And a bottle of the darkest beer you've got," added Joel.

Elisha waved a hand to indicate that she didn't want anything more.

The waiter nodded and headed off after he repeated their orders.

"You could have shared the ale with me," Xavier said.

"I'll probably have some," said Joel. "But, dark beer just goes perfectly with nachos. How about you, Lish? You still afraid of alcohol?"

"I drink sometimes," she defended.

"A single shot of rum in a tall lemonade does not constitute drinking," laughed Joel.

"Not everyone has a taste for alcohol," Xavier said as he came to her defense as well. "It's okay not to, also."

"See?" said Elisha, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at her brother.

Joel only laughed, his right eye crinkling almost closed in mirth.

Xavier smiled and reached to take Elisha's hand. "He can't win against both of us."

"I should think not," she replied with a grin. "Especially since we're right and he's wrong."

Joel noted that for the first time since he could remember, Elisha was not stuttering when a guy was showing interest in her. He wasn't the first- far from it- but she had never been able to compose herself around them before. In fact, she wasn't much better with girls. She was just nervous about new people. Perhaps Starfleet had changed her more than he'd realized. Unless, of course, she'd known him for years and they only just now started dating. "So how long have you two known each other?" he asked.

Xavier looked at Elisha, then back at Joel. "A few days, really. I saw her singing at a lounge on the ship and we talked. She met my puppy and it's been pretty much the two of us ever since."

A few days? Singing in a lounge? Joel blinked several times, staring at Elisha. "Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" he demanded with a grin.

Elisha grinned. "Stop it," she said. "I've just... grown."

"A good deal," replied Joel, sounding impressed. "This is the girl who used to throw up every time she had to meet someone new or go someplace she'd never been before."

"I did that one time!" said Elisha defensively. "And that's because I had to meet the President of the Federation."

"You met the President of the Federation?" Xavier asked, sounding impressed.

"I was seven," Elisha said. "I'd won an essay contest. 'What I Would Do If I Were President of the Federation.' The prize was being President for a day. Basically just following him around all day. Anyway, I was incredibly nervous and just before we got there, I lost my lunch. But, everything turned out fine."

Xavier smiled at her "I'm sure that you would make an excellent President of the Federation," he said. "Although you might have to stop messing with the wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff or the Department of Temporal Investigations would come after you."

"But I have you to protect me," said Elisha. "And if you can take on George Takei with a tomato, you can take on the Department of Temporal Investigations."

"I'm only an Ensign," Xavier pointed out. "Takei was a holodeck character throwing tomatoes."

"Even so," said Elisha.

"Yeah, I've heard about those Time Cops," laughed Joel, using the slang term. "If you can handle tomatoes on a holodeck, you can handle them."

Xavier laughed. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

At that time, the waiter came back with a huge tray of loaded nachos with a large bowl of hot peppers on the side which made people sweat two tables away, three pitchers of juice and beer and the dark beer for Joel. "Will there be anything else?"

"Not right now, thanks," said Elisha, eyeing the nachos hungrily. "Thank you."

Xavier loaded some nachos onto his plate, of which there were three and then took the tongs and began to layer the hot peppers on. "Oh, these smell so good! I'm going to be breathing fire, but it'll be worth it."

"Remind me not to kiss you until they've worn off," Elisha commented, helping herself to the nachos.

Joel laughed. "Seriously, what did you do to her?" he asked Xavier. "I've never seen her this comfortable around someone she just met a few days ago."

Xavier nearly did a double take at Elisha's words, but smiled from ear to ear. "Nothing, honestly," he said. "I just treat her like she deserves to be treated."

Joel shook his head. "If that's all there is to it, then maybe you can give the rest of us some lessons," he said. "Cuz, seriously. The whole family is going to be amazed."

Xavier reached for Elisha's hand and brushed his lips lightly over the back of it. "That is because she is worth it."

Elisha felt her cheeks burning and she gave him a nervous smile. "A-aren't you s-sweet?" she said.

"That's better," said Joel with a wink at his sister. "More what we're used to. Still, she didn't bolt. That's something."

"Do not blush Querida," Xavier said. "It is okay."

But, that only made Elisha blush further. Querida was one of the words that was the same in Portuguese as in Spanish. It was a term of endearment which was equal to "beloved." Its literal translation was "one I want" and it made Elisha feel more important than she had ever felt before. "I-I can't control it," she defended, still blushing.

"You will get better in time," Xavier said before he released her hand and reached for his nachos. "For now, let us feast!"

Joel grinned encouragingly at his sister. She was still awkward, but with this guy, she could be herself at least a little. He would be good for her, he could see it.

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