Posted by Lieutenant Commander Kiama Naim (Chief Science Officer) in Naim’s Quarters- Catching Up

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Faye Calloway (Counter-Intelligence Officer) in Naim’s Quarters- Catching Up

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Kiama Naim (Chief Science Officer) in Naim’s Quarters- Catching Up
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“I hear you,” Kiama laughed softly. “It’s been an interesting few weeks. To put it mildly.” Her black eyes twinkled with joy and the smile on her lips was wide. Yet underneath the surface there was more going on. “Come, have a seat,” she continued and gestured towards the couch. “Can I get you anything from the replicator?”

~Kiama

Calloway flopped down on the sofa. “Hot chocolate with dark chocolate and whipped cream,” Faye said, entirely on a whim. “Don’t know why but I feel like something warm and cozy and sweet.”

“Oh! That sounds so good!” Kiama exclaimed with a grin before heading towards the replicator.

So much was going to change in her life a short time from now and as she watched Kiama she realized that she needed to make sure that some things wouldn’t change, even if she was going to be elsewhere.

~Faye

Upon returning with two cups of hot chocolate, Kiama handed one of them to Faye before settling down next to her. Raising her cup, she said softly, “To friendship.” All the while a tender smile was playing across her dark face. Of course she could tell that a lot was going on for Faye and that she was feeling a lot of things all at once. And it would have been easy to use her abilities to find out more. But also insensitive. So instead she asked curiously, but kindly, “Do you want to tell me more about how you are doing? What are your and Daggum’s plans?”

~Kiama

“To friendship,” Faye said with a genuine smile before sipping the sweet and rich drink. It felt so cozy going down and these sorts of small things always steadied her.

She inhaled a steading breath and blew it out slowly, nodding. “Well, we’re getting married here, since it’s our common ground and easier for him to come here than me to go there and have everyone travel. Logistically it wouldn’t make sense. But…” Uggh, why was this so hard?! But she knew the answer. It was because this felt like home. “I realized that when I marry Dag, I can’t stay here. It’s hard enough already, and my job is more flexible than his currently. Alex made it easy for me and put me in for a transfer.” She turned her head to gaze at Kiama. I’m leaving the Manhattan after the wedding and going to go live with Dag. I already have approval to do my work there and there are some interesting opportunities with it, but… yeah. I’m leaving and it… hard Kiama. Harder to wrap my mind around than I expected. I don’t want to leave you all.”

~Faye

Leaning forward, Kiama placed her cup on the coffee table and then turned around so that she was fully facing Faye. She lightly placed the tips of her right hand on her friend’s thigh and replied gently, “Of course it is hard. I would be surprised if it wasn’t. And I am not going to lie: I will miss you. A lot. At the same time I’m so happy for you. I love you dearly and a very selfish part of myself wishes that you’d stay here. But more than anything I want you to be happy. And I can tell how happy Daggum makes me. He is a good man. And I know something else: No matter how far apart we are, I will always be here for you and do everything in my power to stay in contact as long as we both want that. Okay?” Her black eyes were fixed on Faye’s face. Her expression tender. Filled with a mixture of happiness and sadness.

~Kiama

Faye nodded, momentarily blinded by tears as she sipper her hot chocolate. “You better. After all the trouble I went through to establish a secure comm line for us through the wormhole and all,” she said, forcing a laugh. “I’m a comm call away.”

“What kinda friend would I be, if I didn’t?” Kiama asked rhetorically, her voice tender. She didn’t try to ease Faye’s pain or stop her tears. Emotions were neither good nor bad. But it was important to actually feel them. And she had never been someone who was afraid of tears. As she watched her friend, her own eyes filled with tears as well.

She blew out a breath. “You know, when I came here, I had one goal: figure out what living meant, because I wasn’t interested in survival any more. I wanted more. I deserved more than that.” Faye looked at Kiama again and smiled. “And I have people like you to thank for that. You pulled my out of my awkward shell and showed me it’s so bad out here, that there could be good things I wanted them. So, thank you, Kiama. I’ll always be grateful.”

~Faye

“You are more than welcome. And yes: you deserve more than to just survive,” Kiama replied with emphasis before continuing more gently, “I am so grateful for our friendship. It means more to me than I can put into words. Thank you, Faye.” And mindful of the cu Faye was still holding, Kiama leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her friend.

~Kiama

Faye tilted her head to the side, resting it on Kaima’s. Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes and absorbed the feeling of comfort, of security. She was gathering up all these tiny little pieces to take with her so she would have something warm to remember on the days that were harder as she adjusted to life on the Athena. “You know, I think Tess will miss you too. She likes you, I can tell. Probably because you’re Betazoid,” Faye said with a grin, her eyes slipping open again. “But she’s going with me too, sorry,” she said with a chuckle.

“I’ll miss her too, but I’m glad that you have her to help you adjust to all the changes that are to come,” Kiama whispered; her eyes closed and her breathing deep and even. Despite the sadness she felt because they would be parting ways, right now she felt happy, blessed and completely at ease.

“So… I did want to mention something because I feels it’s important. I wanted to ask you to stand with me when I marry Dag, and I was going to do just that, but then I realized that I want to ask me mom that first. Right of first refusal and all that. But the way I see it, I can have two people up there with me. So if you want to be, what do they call them, a bridesmaid? We never had them on Tracken,” she said with a shrug. “But yeah, if you wanted to be there with me more than just in the audience, I’d really like that.” The number of people at this wedding was likely gong to be small and she had that vision she shared with Revna fixed firmly in her mind of being encircled by people who loved them.

~Faye

Without meaning to, Kiama pulled slightly back in surprise. Her hands now resting on Faye’s shoulders as she stared at the other woman. For a moment or two she was utterly speechless. Only to suddenly burst into tears as she pulled her friend close to her again and hugged her tightly; the cup in Faye’s hand completely forgotten. “I’d love to be your bridesmaid. Thank you so much,” she replied, her voice quivering slightly. And without thinking, she placed a soft kiss on Faye’s cheek.

~Kiama

Faye laughed as she switched her mug into her other hand and grinned at Kiama. “I didn’t think it’d make you cry,” she teased. She wasn’t used to have people she was this close to, people she could rely on whom she would want to celebrate something as momentous as her getting married. “I suppose I shouldn’t ask you to make a speech, then right?” She said, raising her brows. Was she teasing or being serious. Who knew.

~Faye