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Calloway's Quarters- Mentoring in All Forms

Posted July 20, 2021, 4:26 p.m. by Lieutenant Commander Faye Calloway (Counter-Intelligence Officer) (Lindsay B)

Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Calloway’s Quarters- Mentoring in All Forms

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Faye Calloway (Counter-Intelligence Officer) in Calloway’s Quarters- Mentoring in All Forms

Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Calloway’s Quarters- Mentoring in All Forms
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Alex petted Tess for a moment until he sat her on the floor. He picked up the coffee, took a sip, sat back and looked at Faye, and took a deep breath.

“Zef is pregnant. And no… not by me. It’s.... complicated.” he said flatly.

Alex

Whatever she expected him to say that was not it and Faye barely managed not to spew her coffee. Instead it made her gulp down a rather large amount and it burned on the way down. Blinking, she coughed once and then stared at Alex. “Come again?” Complicated was probably an understatement. They were still together, so whatever happened had broken them up, but she knew he wasn’t thrilled about the whole thing.

~Faye

“She’s pregnant, Faye. Gonna have another man’s kid. Apparently in the Bajeen culture, if someone wants a child but can’t have one, they use surrogates… but not in the way humans have typically done so. Its more a… a … business transaction than anything else.” He took a drink, and the look on is face made the pain more than clear, Tess’s attentions notwithstanding.

Faye nodded slowly. Okay, so that was a lot, but it sounded reasonable so far.

“But the thing is, Faye… the thing is…” and he looked at the floor. “We got in a HUGE fight about it. Huge. Like… I didn’t know if we were together anymore or not.” He looked up and said “She didn’t tell me about it, Faye. She knew for over a month she was going to do it… and didn’t say a f^%$ing thing. We went to dinner on Event Horizon… The View… I was gonna make it a special night. But then she just looks at me and says basically ‘Oh by the way, I’m gonna sleep with a guy enough to get pregnant and have his kid and I think the ceviche sounds delicious yes I’ll have that.’ And she couldn’t see why I had a problem with that particular approach.” he drank some more coffee and said “I know you don’t anymore… but do you have something stronger?”

Alex

She reached out and rested her hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry, Alex. And yeah, you know full well I don’t and why. And I’m going to be an annoying friend and tell yo things you already know but want to ignore. She hurt you and a part of you is still really hurt. But alcohol only numbs that, and worse. It doesn’t even really make it easier to talk about, but I’m going to do for you what you’ve been doing for me- I’m going sit through it with you. And Tess is great at these things too. You just watch,” she said softly.

Sipping on her coffee a moment Faye sighed. “So where are you two at now? Did you reach any resolution with things?”

~Faye

“We’re together. The guy she… well… the dad… decent guy. We spoke and he finally understood that I had an issue with him sleeping with Zef. The rest I could probably have handled with a little warning…” and he looked at her and smiled, “… remember the Cultural Norm and Personal Perspectives module, after all.” and he chuckled. “Anyway… he came up with a way they could follow the Bajeen law and he wouldn’t have to do the deed, as it were. So… now she’s pregnant. And we are in a better place. But I still have a lot of resentment. And its not like I can go talk to the Counselor about it, now can I?” and he laughed softly. ” I dunno… I just… she said it was a Bajeen thing… as if I should just accept it as their culture. But she didn’t accept that in my culture we didn’t shag other men to get knocked up because they asked nicely.”

Alex

Faye inhaled slowly. “Yeah. And because you two aren’t married, that might mean something different in terms of a relationship in her culture too, whereas we’re at a point where legally being married or not isn’t the only factor to consider as to whether a relationship is serious.” She sipped on her coffee. “I know shit all about relationships really, so I’m hardly the best example, but what I do know is that regardless of where you two were at before the fight, you’re starting at a new place. So… maybe that’s it right there? Maybe you gotta start over again, from this new perspective. Get to know each other again with this new knowledge and see if being together is what you both want. Because, she pregnant Alex. Surrogate or not, she’s going to carry and birth a baby and even if she’s not the one raising it, it changes things for her. You have to be all in or give her space to do what she needs to on her own. But if you carry that resentment with you, it’s going to taint everything. Take it from someone who tainted every relationship she ever had because of sh!t she couldn’t let go of. Don’t be me, Alex. Don’t let years of your life go by and watch good stuff pass you by because you were too scared to do what you know you need to.” Sometimes all that pain she’d been through had moments of clarity. This had been one of them and it was one fo the few things she could truly share with people as ‘advice’.

~Faye

Alex smiled at her and said “Spoken like a true Commanding Officer.” and he winked at her. And I hear what you are saying… and more importantly I agree with what you are saying. In that vein, we spoke about it… there was anger and hurt on both sides. but I think we made progress. So we are giving us a chance to do it. She’s even moved some things into my quarters so that once she is further along, she won’t have to worry about getting to her place or mine. I did the same. So… we are trying. Thats all we can do right now, right?” and he sipped his coffee.

“Yeah. One day at a time,” she said softly.

“Thought my sister was gonna knife her for a minute, though.” and he laughed.

Alex

Faye laughed loudly. “Now that I can imagine. Did I tell you she made a play for Dag? All like, ‘if you’re done with him, I’d gladly take him off your hands’.” She laughed more. “Luckily I knew she didn’t mean any harm by it, but yeah…”

“Knowing her.. she did mean it.” and he shook his head.

“Now, you ready for a really good laugh. I mean, uncontrollable, sides hurting laugh?” Faye said, waggling her brows.

~Faye

“Yes, absolutely. Let’s see this vid of epic reputation.”

Alex

Giggling, Faye got up carefully and set her mug down. She brought over her computer and set it on the table in front of them and pulled up the message. “So she sent me this with exactly two words accompanying it: No comment…”

And then Faye played the video:
The video showed two sides of a vid call. One side: a remarkably sober looking Shara and Micah on the couch they currently sat on, dark of night in the window behind them. On the other, an Andorian woman with long white hair with beads in it. Her face was painted to resemble a rising sun in yellows and oranges.

“Dearly beloved,” the woman began, “… we are gathered here under the blessings of the Universal Harmony and Light-Bearers Church of the Everlasting Love and Harmonious Living Church and Souvenir Store to join these two beings in holy matrimony. Shara Calloway… do you love, honor, trust, cherish, and desire the man next to you? And do you wish him to be your partner in love and light till darkness takes you and you cast into the abyss of the everlasting night never to be seen or heard by the universe again?” Shara looked at Micah and smiled. To anyone who didn’t know her, it looked like a love and adoring smile. Micah, though, saw the struggle to keep from laughing and simply nodded and said softly “Yeah, I know…” “I do.” said Shara. The ‘minister’ looked at Micah. “And do you, Micah Pikel… Pikelsimmer? Piike-simer? Pickalsimmer?” and Micah rolled his eyes at Shara and said “Pikelsimer. Close enough. Lets do this.” and the minister said “Right, Pikelsimer. Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and satisfy all the needs - both physical and spiritual- of the woman next to you?” and the ‘minister’s‘ eyes focused on Shara and she licked her lips as her words took on a somewhat daydream-like quality. “Even if that means taking on a second lover to help with her most intimate desires… satisfying her while she tells them about how she makes homemade yogurt and cheeses… and wants to raise small horses and sell them to tiny cowboys…” and she shook her head and said “Oh, I’m sorry… What was I saying? Oh yes… do you promise to love and cherish her as your partner and wife until such time as the holy light is vanished from the universe and you are left alone and cold amidst nothingness for all eternity?”

Micah and Sha stared at the screen and then Micah just said “Uh… yeah.... sure. Except that one past with the tiny cowboys.” The ‘minister’ smiled and said “I pronounce you wed! Congratulations. Now.. we have a wide assortment of souvenirs to help you memorialize your wedding. Would you be interested in the -” and the vid ended.

Faye was shaking with laughter. It was still funny! “I still have to reply. I only got this earlier today and I’m not sure what to say to her.” Her voice was getting higher pitched as she tried to retrain her laughter.

~Faye

Alex fell over.

Out of the chair.

Landing on the floor and laughing so hard he started turning beet red and the veins stood out on his neck. For many, many minutes he couldn’t talk. No words could be formed as he saw, over and over again in his mind the vid. Suddenly he stopped laughing and looked at Faye as if he had been shocked back into seriousness. He looked at her with wide eyes and the said only…

“Tiny cowboys.”

And he started laughing again.

Alex

Faye was already primed for laughter, knowing what was coming, but the more he laughed, the harder she did and as soon as he started again, her ribs were hurting.

“Church of the Everlasting Love and Harmonious Living?!” She bust out into laughing again. Tess sat on the arm of the sofa looking at the who Humans as if she wasn’t sure this amounted to one of those emergency situations or not.

When, finally, they were able to contain themselves once again… and breathe, Faye looked at Alex and shook her head. “When you asked if I was okay with it, now you know why I can’t be mad. I mean, who can be upset with… that? Oh, my face hurts!”

~Faye


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