Posted Oct. 10, 2019, 8:11 p.m. by Lieutenant Christopher Robins (Stellar Cartographer) (Steven Sigle)
Posted by Lieutenant Alexandra Garfield (Xenobiologist) in USS Aquarius And Baby makes three
Alexandra Garfield sat in the mess hall and stared out the large window to her right. Her tray was filled with a hodgepodge of items that seemed to have been selected haphazardly. None of it was touched including her cup of coffee as she stared into the vast expanse of space. She had found a peace and beauty in the stars mainly because of Chris. Now it just amplified her loneliness.
Her mind was numb and her thoughts muddled which rendered her ability to make a rational choice non-existant. The beginnings of a headache pulsed at the base of her skull. This was not the typical spot for a stress headache to form but without some sort of aspirin or acetaminophen it would erupt into an event more bothersome later. Her eyes scanned the inky blackness searching for a single point: Polaris or more commonly known as the North Star.
Chris has shown her where it was in the night sky a million times yet it was like she had never found it before. Absently her hand crept to her neck as she began to fiddle with her necklace.
The normal dull white noise of the crowded mess hall helped her drown out the buzzing that rang in her ears. She felt dizzy wondering if she would be able to make it back to her quarters without collapsing to the deck plates. Alexandra should have been bouncing off the walls with pure happiness as she mulled over the sickbay results with someone on the other side of the table fretting about every prolonged silence or ache. Instead, she was alone. This was becoming a pattern when Chris popped up in her life. He professed undying love yet the first sign things were not going his way, Robins took off without a hi, bye, or kiss my ass.
Taking a long sp of her coffee Lexi thought back to the last day of the science conference. That was the last day she truly remembered being happy. Everything was right about that day. The sun shone down warm on her exposed arms and bare legs. The smile she wore was one of contented happiness. After all these years, everything had snapped into place. Her Nana always said things turned out how they were supposed to given enough time. Turned out the time was six years. Instead of a dark night with drizzle and the sound of her tears, she was standing for the world to see with the sound of the ocean rolling in wave after wave of different choices and there were a lot of choices to be made. Chris and Lexi could have ended that moment like a fairytale yet as always, it fell apart before it ever got going. Who would have ever thought one day six weeks ago could change your life forever.There were a few options that wouldn’t require her to drastically alter the course of her life. All but one went against the core of her moral center. Lexi needed a sign from the one person who could help her yet the message carefully typed out on the PaDD next to her wasn’t sent. How could she send it? Chris had made it abundantly clear he wanted nothing more to do with her. Lexi called several times over the past six weeks and not once has he followed up with the promised calls back. This meant she would have to just like when she had to fight to get him to call her after the North Star Cafe. Still, this was not a call she could not make.
Getting up from the table she could not procrastinate any longer. She was actually on a time crunch. Once in her quarters, Lexi decided to call Chris back again. If he didn’t answer it was on him. If he did, Alexandra Garfield had no idea what she would say.
Lt. Alexandre Garfield.
Chris heard the page as he looked up from his desk as he saw the name pop up on his screen. Really, you leave me for Noah again and you can just leave me alone… Chris thought to himself. He wasn’t sure what was worse when you loved someone and they didn’t seem to love you with the same fire and intensity. At least that was the lie Chris had feed to himself, Ian, Kelly, his fellow crew members and really anyone that would listen to him rant about his broken heart.
The truth was though Chris was a broken man, hurt once long ago and too afraid to let himself be hurt once more runs right when everything seems the worst. That was the case with him and Lexi, that fateful day he overheard her words to Noah as he left her six weeks ago. He had survived six years without her he could survive six weeks.
Still part of him knew he couldn’t avoid her forever, even with light years of space between them their circles seemed too small to be able to hide. Taking a deep breath Chris taped the screen to answer her call as he waited for the connect to take.
Lieutenant Christopher Robins
Lexi’s eyes got a bit wider as she saw Chris pop on the view screen. Part of her, well a large part of her actually never expected him to answer the call. She had tried for a week in earnest after the events of the science conference. The second week she had just pouted. The third-week righteous indignation had set in and Lexi sent several messages far more angry in tone than probably what was needed. A month after the conference and completely drunk on some homemade liquor, a tearful Lexi called his personal communicator leaving a confusing barrage of why can’t we talk about this and don’t ever call me again. The next week she had gotten the flu or what she thought was the flu. A trip to the doctor changed everything.
Seeing Chris on the other end of the screen made her words stuck in her throat. Her mind went blank and she clenched her teeth tightly together. She wasn’t mad but more scared he would see her break down. Lexi has to present a neutral facade. Chris needed to know what was happening but not how she felt about it.
“Hello,” she said abruptly and then just sat there waiting for his reply.
Lt. Lexi. Garfield
“You called me buttercup… what do you want?” was Chris’s reply as he rolled his eyes as he sat there. He wasn’t sure why he had accepted the call, every time he tried to feel something for Lexi she always seemed to end up running back to Noah. For over ten years he has wanted to be more and the one shot he had seemed to not be enough, the scene of her nearly nude embracing Noah as she dismissed Chris was enough to make the final moment snap inside of him. “What do you need?” he asked her as he waited her to say something, anything.
Lieutenant Christopher Robins
“What do I need,” she asked feeling the frustration and tension building in her body. This might not have been the time to call. Since she did, however, Lexi could not just hang up. His flippant response and eye roll was quickly sending her into the red zone. “Maybe for you to pick up the comm line. Maybe for you to not make me feel like I am some love-struck teenager desperate to get the great Christopher Robins to grace me with a hello. Maybe I need something other than a greeting that you save for the chicks you bang once and then no longer want anything to do with. Maybe that is what I need,” Lexi ground her teeth together so tightly her jaws ached. She could feel her eyes wanting to start to fill but the fire in her veins right now evaporated the tears away before they had a chance to fall.
Lt. Lexi Garfield science
“Oh that’s rich coming from you, you know as damn well as I do that nothing that happened was cause I saw you like any of the other women. Every time I turn around Noah is popping up though, I don’t get it I really don’t but you guys seem far more destined than the two of us… so yeah maybe I don’t pick up… I don’t need to reminded I am always going to be second place all the time.” Chris retorted with as he took a deep breath as he tried to keep his mind calm and collected. He wasn’t out of love with her, you never fall out of love and keep this anger. Anger is just the other end of love, and if he could be angry at her then he could still love her just as much.
“So… what… do… you… need.” he mocked with each word pausing in between for effect as he waited to see what this was all about, regretting more and more he even picked up the call to begin with.
Lieutenant Christopher Robins
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