Spoils of War
Posted on 07 Sep 2016 @ 12:52am by Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Commodore Harvey Geisler
6,262 words; about a 31 minute read
Mission:
Click Three Times
Location: Various
Timeline: MD7 || 1230 hours
Harvey had spent all morning aboard the Chimera. While he had spent his first few minutes watching Cadet Khan and the salvage teams at work, the moment he was satisfied with their performance, Harvey made his way to the Captain's Ready Room. Amazingly, it didn't look like the rest of the ship. The purple hue of the nebula tinted the silver paint in the room. Flickering light did little to hide the mess there, and Harvey's goal was not to clean. He was after whatever he could find. PADD after PADD contained details on the ship itself. Incident reports, personnel reports and flags...
Forty PADDs in the room, and nothing screamed Consortium. Harvey managed to dump the collective files into three PADDs for later review, finding himself every step of the way regretting not having an Intelligence or Strategic Operations officer aboard. He was certain the Strategic Operations department back on Unity would have a field day with whatever he found, and hopefully he found something useful.
His next stop was Captain Suresh's quarters on Deck Two. The doors were easy to force open, only to discover the room was a worse mess than the Ready Room. Harvey found a crate and stuck the three PADDs he brought from the bridge in there before searching the room for intel. After at least a half hour, he'd collected another twenty PADDs, and placed them inside the crates. He also collected a few pictures he'd found of Suresh and Terlexa and several other officers. He didn't recognize any of them, but anything that could identify Consortium agents would be helpful. He also checked the local terminal and found a few files on there to transfer. There was also some jewelry in the bedroom he considered taking, but there was little point in giving someone special what belonged to a dead woman.
He repeated this process for as many senior quarters as he could enter. All in all, he left the Senior Officer Quarters with two very full crates. PADDs were light on their own, but a crate of them had some weight. He was thankful for the few hours he'd had the night before. Were it not for them, he'd have to get an antigrav cart.
Harvey made his way down to the shuttlebay and left the Chimera thanks to his small shuttlepod. As he departed, he could see Cadet Khan's ingenuity at work. She had every indicator she'd be a solid commander some day, even though she expressed no desire. He'd see about that.
The Captain was soon back aboard the Black Hawk and could tell that further repairs had been made. There was still a long way to do, but he was confident they'd have main power and warp drive soon. Harvey took his crates from the shuttlepod and into the turbolift. He refused help along the way. After all, if something happened to these files, he wanted no one else to share the burden. Plus, with members of the Chimera's crew running about the Black Hawk now, he didn't want them to be aware of where he'd been. Before long, he stepped out onto Deck Two and arrived at his quarters.
Down in Security, Joey found herself sitting inside an interrogation room where it was quiet. She needed to gather her bearings and attempt to get her mind straight. Thankfully, Camila had everything she needed for the moment, and unless someone else came looking for her, then she wouldn't be missed for the few minutes she planned to take.
Jackson wasn't that far away from her. She could feel the evil radiating off of him even through the various bulkheads that separated them. Wouldn't she be doing the galaxy a favor if she just walked in there, lowered the forcefield, and killed him? Sure, but then she'd be the one taking his place in the isolation cell, and that was something she didn't want to do. It wasn't who she was. That wasn't what she stood for. That sad excuse for a man needed to pay for the crimes he committed, and it was up to JAG to make that happen. Sadly, though, she didn't feel there was a suitable sentence fitting everything he'd done. Still... it wasn't her place to be judge, jury and executioner where he was concerned.
If the Marine knew the havoc he'd done to her mind, though, he'd be incredibly pleased with himself. It was affecting her ability to sleep, to eat... and if she didn't keep herself busy... to function. Thankfully, though, there was enough going on around her that there wasn't much need to worry about the latter. With the ship... and Camila... in their current state, there was a lot that still needed to be done, and she'd already volunteered to work a double to help out. She'd work longer if she needed to just to keep from falling asleep if that's what it took. Anything to keep the nightmares at bay.
With a sigh, she lowered her face in her hands and closed her eyes. Joey was exhausted, but she'd done her best to pretend to be asleep the night before. The dark circles that formed under her eyes over the past couple of hours were going to give that away, but there wasn't much she could do about it now. The only thing she could do was keep moving forward, and that's exactly what she was going to do. She'd proven to Admiral Farragut years ago she wasn't a quitter, and was going to keep proving it even now.
If there was one thing Harvey immediately noticed about his dimly lit quarters was that someone had cleaned. His laundry was in a hamper, the bed made, and the living room looked just like it meant to. Even the PADDs and chips on his desk had been reset. He at first thought Chief Rasputin had been by, but doing so would have been a violation of his order to her to rest, as well as her neglecting her other duties.
No, this could only have been one other person.
He had some time before needing to go back over to the Chimera. Harvey scrounged in a nearby drawer for a couple ration bars... gourmet bars they were branded... and tapped his badge. Surely Joey had a free minute and was just as hungry as he. "Captain Geisler to Lieutenant Corwin."
Joey raised her head when she heard the Captain's voice come through. She cleared her throat and tapped the combadge on her chest. "Corwin here, Captain." she said, waiting for her orders to come through. With Camila being ordered on light duty, she figured it may have had something to do with that.
=/\= "What's your location?" =/\= came his voice over her combadge.
=^= Security... interrogation room two to be precise. =^= her voice replied over his combadge.
=/\= "Stay put," =/\= he replied. =/\= "I'm coming your way." =/\=
=^= Yes, Captain. =^= Joey said before tapping her combadge to end the transmission. She lowered her head back into her hands once again and closed her eyes.
Thanks to the working turbolift system, Harvey arrived quicker than he expected to. Part of him felt strange knowing he was back in the detention area, especially knowing there was still a man behind a forcefield who had it in for him and Joey.
He arrived at the interrogation room to observe Joey through the window, face down at the table. He supposed she was emotionally overwhelmed by their recent ordeal. Harvey supposed she could have been tired, but even though he managed a few hours last night himself, he'd assumed she'd done the same. He entered the room and approached the table. Grabbing the other chair, he flipped it around the table to sit beside her. "Hey," he said, gently brushing his right hand against her back.
Joey's nerves were on edge, but despite that fact, she smiled when she heard his voice and felt his hand on her back. "Hi," she said softly, finally looking up at him. She wished she'd have had a chance to do something about the dark circles under her eyes, but there hadn't been time. Her saving grace, though, was the fact that there were still others who were walking around in the same shape she was in.
Harvey's gentle smile faded into a frown, taking immediate note of her exhausted complexion. "Why do I feel like I was the only person who got a couple hours of sleep last night?" he asked. Harvey also sensed that there was more to it than exhaustion. "What's going on?"
"Jackson," she answered simply, but she planned to elaborate a bit more on her admission, though, talking about it didn't really help much. Kylar's death made coping with his side of things quite a bit easier to handle, and that was because he'd never be able to come back to hurt anyone again. "I did fall asleep last night, but it didn't take long for him to invade my dreams. It was almost like reliving everything all over again, except I was able to wake myself up from it. His face was right here..." She used her hand and held it up a couple inches away from the side of her face. "He had that sick smirk on his face... I swore I could feel his breath on my skin."
Joey shuddered. "I didn't want to wake you up, so I laid there and thought about us surfing my first night here... the hula dancing lesson I tried to give you... even the balloon and water gun war we had with Mila. It helped... using good memories to push thoughts of him out of my mind. I think it's the fact that he's still here," she said softly. "Logically, I know he's not going anywhere, but part of me thinks he'll find a way to get out of his cell and come after me... or you."
Harvey reached over to take one of her hands gently into his. "Jackson is not leaving his cell," he told her. "If I have to place him in suspended animation inside of a probe and lock him away in an egress tube and reprogram the lock to a random code and forget, I will do it if it will keep you safe," he told her firmly. "I will not have you walk around this ship in fear, Joey. I just... I just can't bear to see you look over your shoulder like that."
She was, and wasn't surprised, that he'd go to such lengths to make her feel comfortable. That was just one of the many things about Harvey Geisler that drew her to him in the first place. His ability to want to protect those he cared about. Joey was right... she could find herself falling hard for the man who sat next to her. He made it very easy, and she just couldn't really find anything wrong with that. "The rational side of my brain knows he's not going anywhere. He's under heavily armed guard. But, there is a part of me that wonders if he could get passed them." she said softly, looking down at their hands before she looked back up to him. "I'll be okay, though. I'm going to exhaust myself today, then maybe when I crawl into bed later, I won't have to worry about him being in places he isn't wanted."
The Captain would have done the same for any member of his crew, no matter how close he was to the individual. He already knew he was taking a risk by bringing the Chimera's crew aboard the Black Hawk. Each one would be vetted by Warrant Officer Tanika, but even then, those methods were far from fool proof.
"You're exhausted now," Harvey pointed out, reaching up and placing the two ration bars on the table. "You need food and rest. I have engineers pulling repair duty with more sleep than you." He picked up one that said "Cheesy Lasagna." "I've always wanted to try these," Harvey said, checking the expiration date real quick. He'd picked them up from a trading post on Deep Space Nine before coming to the Gamma Quadrant.
Of course, it was pretty foolish of her to think she'd get any kind of special treatment all things considered, but since nothing was vocalized, there wasn't anything to worry about. "I'll rest after my shift is over. I'm Security's new Assistant Chief now, and my new shift starts in roughly half an hour. The only reason I worked Alpha was to help Camila out since she's been placed on light duty for the next forty-eight hours," Joey said, looking to the two ration bars he'd placed on the table before turning her attention to him. "I choked down half a ration bar a couple hours ago with a glass of water."
Harvey hadn't heard that. In fact, he assumed that was one of the items on his desk that he didn't get to read this morning. "Congratulations," Harvey replied, opening the ration bar and taking a bite. Just as soon as his mouth closed did he turn and spit that poor substitute for human pasta on the floor. He had no one but himself to blame for that. Maybe he could get a runabout replicator to spit out a protein shake or something. "If the replicators are back tonight, we're going to have a real meal to celebrate."
"I can go to Science and borrow one of their heating elements and make you something. I know there are things that can be used in the Captain's mess. It would likely take me a total of twenty minutes tops," she offered. "If there's anything you need to do, you can do it, then meet me there."
Harvey shook his head. "Not tonight," he told her. "You're too tired. You helped me sleep last night, and tonight I'm going to make sure you do. Besides, it's time I did something for you for a change."
"I don't really mind," Joey said. Sometimes, she just needed to give in, and that's exactly what she planned to do. That didn't mean she had to like it. "You do need to eat something, though. I've got a rather large stash of candy in my quarters. If nothing else, you'll have enough sugar coursing through your blood stream to keep you going until you crash later." After all... it was better than nothing, even if didn't really hold any nutritional value. Cooking for him, though, seemed to be out of the question, and that made her feet a bit bad.
"As long as it's better than that..." Harvey looked at the ration bar in his hand before tossing it back down, "then we should be fine." He also figured if he could get to a hypospray, then hitting himself with a stimulant before finding a normal ration bar would help take that edge off when the sugar crash hit.
Before she had a chance to move, Harvey gently squeezed her hand. "Are you sure you can't take a quick nap? Even twenty minutes will give you enough to make it through the next couple of hours." He had to make sure she was going to be okay.
"I promise you it will be a lot better than that, but we need to go to my quarters," she said, rising to her feet as she gently squeezed his hand in return. "If I do, I'll miss the beginning of my shift, and I can't do that. Especially not on my first day as Assistant Chief. I'll be okay. Maybe I'll stop by sickbay and have them give me a stimulant. That will keep me going for a while."
Harvey rose with her, taking note of her squeeze. "I'm sure they'll have something that will work just fine."
"Brace yourself. You're about to see something that not many people have seen before," she said with a grin. Joey didn't want to let go of his hand, but considering they were going to be going out in public, she did. With that, she made her way to the door, making a mental note to head back and take care of the discarded ration bars when she got back.
Harvey was intrigued, genuinely wondering what she was talking about. Of course, the first thing he thought of was that her quarters were likely worse off than his were last night. In fact, that was all he thought of.
Sadly, despite cleaning her quarters the day before when she'd found a little time to so, would be a complete mess once again thanks to the gravity going out on that deck. But, she didn't know about that... at least not until she opened the door and walked inside. That was going to be a HUGE surprise, but the one she was actually speaking of would come in the form of a mountain of candy that she couldn't live without. Joey couldn't count the number of times the sugary confections had comforted her since she was a small child growing up in paradise.
After a quick trip to the nearest turbolift and requesting deck five, she turned her attention over to him once the door closed behind them. "So, what kind of ideas do you have to make sure I sleep tonight?" she found herself asking him. "Short of a bat to the head or something similar, I'm not sure what else will work."
He raised an eyebrow as he glanced over to her. "I can't give away all my secrets, now can I?" he replied with a smile. Truth be told, he didn't have much of an idea as of yet, but it certainly would not involve drugs or a bat to the head.
Joey couldn't help but laugh. "No, I suppose you can't. Can't blame a girl for trying, though," she said, stepping off of the turbolift once they'd reached her deck. So far, nothing looked out of the ordinary to her, but then her quarters weren't near the pool or the rec rooms. "I'm just a few doors down from here." She led the way and opened the door, stepping inside and out of the way so he could follow behind her.
What she saw when she walked inside caused her heart to skip a beat. All her personal effects were scattered everywhere... on the couch, the floor... some of the things she'd already attempted to repair after being smacked into the ground twice were broken yet again. She moved over to one of the items laid out in the middle of the floor that survived the last couple of times, then bent down to pick up what looked to be a wood carved figurine that was now broken in a few pieces. She closed her eyes and brought it to her chest just as tears began to well in her eyes.
"What...?" Harvey said as he looked around the cluttered room. It was a bit before he saw Joey leaning over something over the floor. He knelt beside her to look at the shattered figurine. He even picked up one of the pieces and examined it closely. "You know," he said, "I think a little glue can fix this," he told her. He wasn't sure if it would help her or not as he placed a hand on her back. In many ways, he'd felt like her before. His world crashing down all around him and no one to help him through it.
He reached over and placed his hand over hers and the fragment of the figurine that she held. Harvey offered a weak smile as he drew himself to her, moving the hand from her back to hold the shoulder opposite him.
Joey sniffled, wanting nothing more than to give in to the emotional and mental wear she felt, but it wouldn't get her anywhere, nor would it help anything. She did feel as though her world was crashing in on her, and there was little she could do to stop it. "My grandfather made this for me right before I left for the Academy," she said barely above a whisper. "She's survived nearly eleven years... until now. Now... now she symbolizes exactly how I'm beginning to feel."
"What you are feeling," he told her, "is something I never would have wished on my worst enemy. I had my life torn apart once, and only now am I starting to recover, thanks to you." She'd been there for him. Now it was time to be there for her.
"I only did for you what anyone with half a heart would have," Joey whispered, still looking at the fragments of the carved hula doll in her hands. "And no matter what happens between us in the future, I'm always going to be there for you, Harvey. You really aren't like any man I've ever met before. Most men... they see... well, it's obvious what they see, but you... you're able to look passed all of it. I'm grateful for that, and for you." Maybe it was because she was exhausted, but she could feel herself starting to slip. That.. that would be kept to herself. The last thing she wanted was to destroy one of the best things to happen to her before it ever had a chance to truly get started. One day at a time... nothing more.
Harvey grunted, still bearing a smile. If only she'd seen him two months ago, or even the day he took command. That Harvey was no longer around, and he was for the wiser because of it. Removing his hand from holding hers and the hula doll, he reached up and brushed away a tear that was visibly showing. Part of him wanted to tell her to let whatever it was she was holding back go. She didn't have to be strong for him, not now. "And I am eternally grateful for you, Joey. I'll always be here for you too."
Joey smiled and finally turned her brown eyed gaze to him. She was feeling a little better now, but fatigue was still clawing its away at her. Soon... that would be dealt with. "I'll be right back. I promised you candy," she said, putting the pieces of the figurine on a shelf before she moved into her bedroom. It didn't take long before she returned with a trunk. It wasn't as large as his, but it was a nice sized one. "You're welcome to have anything you want that's inside of here."
Setting the trunk down on the couch, she opened it and lifted the lid. There had to be at least forty pounds of sugary goodness inside in a wide variety. "This is what I was talking about when I said you were about to see something you'd likely never seen before. I've got three more of these in my bedroom."
"Oh... my..." Harvey said, his eyes widening larger than he thought possible. "How... How did you get away with carrying this around for all of these years?" He saw a lot that he enjoyed inside the trunk, but rather than start grabbing arbitrarily, he started rummaging through the cache, wondering what secrets waited inside. A few seconds later, he found a caramelized butterscotch candy. Harvey paused, lifting the small button-sized item as if it were a long-lost piece of treasure. "I haven't had one of these in decades," he remarked in a hushed tone. For a moment there, he really felt like a kid again.
"I haven't had it all that long, really. Whenever I come across a starbase, I'll stock up on the things I start to run low on. I'll admit... I have an addiction, and I'm a hoarder. Candy is one of my few weaknesses," she said with a grin, reaching into the trunk to pull out a sour apple hard candy, then settled down on the couch to open it. "Take whatever you want. As a matter of fact, I'll bring one of the trunks by later so you can have it whenever you want it."
"Only if you want to," he said, taking out another of the butterscotch discs and placing it into the pocket behind his tricorder. Opening the first disc he'd withdrawn, he crossed the cabin to join Joey on the couch. "Besides, I'd say this is a rather... healthy addition. There certainly are worse ones."
Joey placed the piece of candy between her lips, then pulled it into her mouth. "If I didn't want to, I wouldn't have mentioned it. What's mine is yours," she said with a smile, looking into the trunk to pull a few more pieces of the butterscotch discs out to stick into his pocket. "I've got all sorts of stuff. Chocolate, red vines, sour candies... you name it, I probably have it."
He'd have to go exploring one day to see what all she had stashed away. Maybe when everything calmed down and he wasn't worried about cleaning out a ship they were about to scuttle. "I look forward to it," he told her, savoring the lost flavor in his mouth.
"Me, too, but for now, I suppose you and I should probably get back to what we need to do," she said, as she rose to her feet. The rest of the day would determine how the evening would go, and after what they'd all experienced the day before, Joey learned real quick not to plan too far in advance. Anything could happen. One thing she wanted to happen above all else, though, was to be able to sleep uninterrupted. "I'll bring the trunk by to you later on." She wasn't going to mention the Jackson thing again, and that was mostly because she'd find a way to get through it.
Harvey rose to stand beside her. He smiled as the last bits of the disc melted in his mouth and escaped down to his stomach. The taste was sensational, but still paled in comparison of just being in the same room with Joey. Though he could stand next to her all day, he did sense duty start to call his name. "Just do you know, warp drive should be restored in a couple hours. We're going to scuttle the Chimera before we leave the nebula."
"You are? I didn't think the damage to the inside of the ship was that bad," she said, looking a bit confused. Of course, Joey had no idea how bad the damage was on the outside since she hadn't seen it for herself. A frown formed on her lips. After everything she'd gone through to take the crew down and get the ship back into the hands of those it belonged in... this... was going to happen. Her opinion didn't matter, nor was she going to waste her time expressing them. After all... she was nothing more than a Lieutenant in Security who put her life on the line for the sake of others on a regular basis, and she'd continue to do so until it was finally time for her to retire.
Joey reached into the trunk and picked up a small pack of red vines, but instead of opening them, she stared at them for a few seconds before tossing them back inside. "I suppose what needs to be done will be done," she said. Her appetite was gone again, but then she had to wonder if it was ever really there in the first place.
"The squadron saw to the outside of the ship," Harvey explained. "It was the external damage that did the ship in. If we had a drydock to tow her to, it'd be an entirely different story. No one's in a condition to tow her to one, nor can we just leave her here until we do."
Harvey stepped forward to join her next to the trunk. He recognized her guilt-ridden expression, and he also knew that there wasn't anything he could say or do to change that. Instead, he just embraced her, thinking a loving touch would be all that would do for now.
The second he embraced her was the second she burst into tears. She'd been avoiding contact with him for that very reason, knowing the second he put his arms around her, the flood gates would open. Joey hadn't been disappointed. Her own arms went around him, and she buried her face against his neck, letting the tears she'd held in for so long free. She was a strong person, and could often times carry the weight of the world on her shoulders, but the last thirty plus hours had wreaked havoc on her. Finally letting it out didn't exactly mean she was weak, either. It meant she was human.
Had Joey been someone Harvey barely knew, he would have blinked in surprise. Then again, he didn't make it a habit to shake hands or otherwise touch people he didn't know. As she cried, Harvey only tightened his embrace. He closed his eyes and leaned his head on top of hers, exhaling slowly. The last couple of days had been hard on them all, himself included. Thankfully, it was almost over. If it were possible, Harvey managed to pull her closer while moving a hand to gently cup the back of her head. He'd hold for as long as she needed, and not a moment less.
After a few moments, Joey sniffled, but she didn't let go of him. Harvey was offering her comfort, and there weren't very many people in the known galaxy that would do something like that for her outside of her own family. In fact, she could count them on a single hand. "I need to be careful," she found herself saying barely above a whisper.
"Careful?" Harvey asked softly, still holding on to her. "Why's that?" he asked, suddenly more concerned for her than he'd been before.
As forward as she ever was, there was no reason to stop doing such now, even if she was scared. She was also an honest person, and she was learning quickly that keeping things bottled in didn't do her any good. Of course, her next words meant negative things could happen, and she'd deal with them as they came. "If I'm not careful... I'm going to fall for you. I'm scared because I think it's already started." Now she knew true fear, and even began to mentally prepared herself to let him go physically, mentally and emotionally.
Harvey smiled, though she could not see it. "One step at a time, Joey," he told her, not wanting to admit that he too could fall for her. "The only way I'm leaving your life now is only if you want me to. I've lost too many people in my life, and I'm not going to let that list grow anymore. You're safe here." Of course, safety on this ship was not something he could guarantee. Not now, not ever. But it wouldn't stop him from trying.
"You're right. One step at a time," Joey said softly, not wanting to let him go just yet, but she knew the time was growing closer. It was hard for her to put into words... or even thought... how being near him made her feel, but she'd found herself trying on more than one occasion. "But... I have to say something else before I lose my nerve, and even then, I might blame all of this on sheer exhaustion later."
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, sniffling as she did so. Leaning back, she turned her brown eyed gaze to him. "Sometimes I wonder how I'd ever make it through without having you. I just wouldn't have a clue. Sometimes it seems like the world's closing in on me, and there's no way of breaking free, and then I see you reach for me. Sometimes I wanna give up. I wanna quit the fight, and then I see you, and everything's alright." She paused for a moment, then continued on. These were the lyrics of a song she'd heard a few times, and though she couldn't remember all of them, she recalled the ones that mattered. "There's nothing in this world that could ever do what a touch of your hand can do. It's like nothing that I ever knew."
"When I see you smile," Harvey continued, "I can face the world." He sighed. "Between you and Mila, I can count on a lot of 20th Century music, can't I?" He also didn't notice that his feet began to move to the missing slow beat of the song, gently swaying in the cluttered room.
Joey didn't seem to notice that she was moving right along with him. "Because, some of the best music comes from that time," she answered with a smile. "It's true, though. When I see you smile, everything does seem alright. Sometimes... it's easier to say what you need to through the words of a song when you have trouble forming the right ones yourself. I can't promise that every moment we spend together will be good ones, but I can promise that I will do everything within my power to make you happy and keep that smile on your face."
"Likewise," Harvey said with a smile. Truer words had never been before composed. "Was that what you were wanting to tell me a little bit ago?" he asked, just for clarity's sake.
"Yes, it was," she said, slipping a hand around the back of his neck to run her fingernails over the base of his skull. "That, and what I told you before. I'm a forward woman, but even I can lose my nerve sometimes. Especially where you're concerned. I don't want to mess this up."
"Don't worry about messing it up," Harvey gently replied, enjoying the sensation at the top of his neck. "You be you, I'll be me. And we'll get through this together. If we keep stressing about right, wrong, or whatever, the chances are good we'll mess this up without trying to."
Joey smiled, and she knew he was absolutely right. Overthinking would be a bad thing, and it was best to let things progress the way they were supposed to. She continued to run her fingernails over his neck and leaned in to kiss him softly. "I don't suppose I could convince you to stay with me for half an hour, could I?"
"Any other day," he said with a solemn, soft tone. As much as he would like to stay, there were many activities in motion today, and the crew needed him just as much, if not more, than Joey did right now. "Tonight, I'll be all yours."
"You're right, and I need to get back to Security. Can we forget I had a momentary lapse of judgement and pure selfishness?" she asked, looking a little hopeful. "I'm not normally like that, and now I feel pretty awful about it."
"Don't do that to yourself," he said, gently brushing aside a lock of her hair. "But all is forgiven."
"Thank you," she said with a smile, leaning in to kiss him softly. "Now... go be the best damn Captain I know you are. I'm going to keep myself busy until it's time for me to fall face first into bed."
Harvey smiled, returning the kiss. "And you be the best Assistant Security Chief in the fleet." He kissed her again before saying softly, "See you tonight."
"Call me when you're finally able to relax, that way I don't have to break into your quarters again," she said with a grin. Although, she didn't really break in the night before. He did tell her she could go on in. "And, I'm going to give being the Assistant Security Chief everything I've got, that's for sure."
"Will do," he told her, regretting the very moment he released her from the embrace. "Until tonight," he told her. Harvey stared into her eyes for a moment more before willing himself to take the first step out of her quarters. As much as Harvey wanted to stay, Captain Geisler was needed elsewhere. Harvey would have to wait his turn.
Joey wasn't sure how long she'd stared at the door once he left, but it had to be at least a minute or two. She forced her gaze elsewhere, only to realize it'd come to rest on the broken figurine she'd placed on the shelf earlier. It didn't take long before she closed the distance, reaching out to pick up the top half of the part of the wooden figure. "You symbolize what I feel exactly," she said softly, lowering her back down.
As a Close Protection Officer, she knew what she was going to be getting day to day, but life on a starship was like nothing she'd expected. There was so many surprises around every turn... so many hits that just kept on coming. Despite that, though, she had reasons to be grateful, and those came in the form of people. With a small smile, Joey made her way out of her quarters and made her way back down to Security.
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