Posted by Lieutenant Commander Jessica Teller (XO) in Teller Penthouse - The Aftermath

Posted by Civilian Aedan Teller (Owner/CEO of OMAP Industries) in Teller Penthouse - The Aftermath

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Jessica Teller (XO) in Teller Penthouse - The Aftermath
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
SNIP https://www.star-fleet.com/core/stf3/outpost42/notes/31362/ Cera Teller post

Jessica woke several hours later. She felt overtired like one does when they have slept too long but the confusion and stress of the situation had vanished. The penthouse was quiet. With it’s size that was not uncommon. Jessica knew Aedan would be here along with the baby. Moving over to the replicator in the bedroom she requested a drink. To her surprise, the coffee ban had been finally lifted. It was not that she minded the strict two cup a day policy. It was for Cera but now that she was baby free the caffeine would again begin to roll. Taking the steaming cup she moved to the console in the bedroom and sat down. It was time to file a report to Starfleet over the incident. Opening up the window she began to type her report.

TO: McGarrett, Mathias Captian Outpost 42
cc: Starfleet Command San Francisco Earth

Subject: Assault by Civilian

On 12082394, the Executive Officer was assaulted by a

Lt. Jessica Teller, XO

It was then when a system error would flash on her screen with an image of OMAP Industries flashing.

“What the,” Jessica tapped several keys to clear the screen and get back to the document she was working on. She groaned hating technology at the moment as no matter what key she tapped did not bring her back to the report. “Ae,” she started to form the words but stopped hearing a sound. That man is turning into a mother hen, she thought. Aedan never said anything he didn’t mean or plan to follow through on. He had told the doctor he would not leave her side and he obviously meant to uphold that promise.

The computer would have no longer be responding as she heard a series of footsteps coming down the hall. Moments later Aedan with two armed guards came in, he looked at the screen then back to the two men as he had them leave the room.

Well this is different, Jessica sat and watched the arrival od Aedan and dismissal of the men with curiosity. A lot of things occurred in their penthouse but this was a first. Aedan had a security force but it was internal for OMAP and officially listed as an Internal Affairs Division. With the ultra high profile clients that worked in OMAP’s entertainment division no one ever questioned why he had a security force. Those that did dig into it discovered the men were simple bodyguards that acted like babysitters to the social elite. This display, however, was new even to Jessica. Maybe her pre-nap rant had sunk into Aedan. “Is this how you are not going to let fear dictate us,” she threw his words back at him with a raised eyebrow and half a grin. He often acted like he was not going to give in to her but it was a rarity when Jessica did not get what she wanted. “Aedan, baby I know I said,”

“And just what are you doing?” he said, his voice calm and cool as he looked at her, but seemingly commanding all the same time The lack of any pet names said a lot as his eyes didn’t leave her.

Her playful expression morphed into a look of genuine confusion. Nothing about Aedan’s demeanor carried the laid back feel of the man who two hours ago was bouncing their daughter and cooing softly against the backdrop of the stars. The man in front of her was all business even if he was not in formal work attire. Her lips parted to reply but quickly realized his first question was simply rhetorical and not information seeking.

“Don’t you think you need to come to me before you get up after such a traumatic event?” he asked her, not waiting for a reply to the first answer as he walked over to the wall panel as he pressed a button the exposed a hidden compartment with drinks and glasses. Aedan acted like the fact that there was a hidden compartment meant very little as he looked back at her.

Jessica watched Aedan move about the room. His actions and question had her slightly on edge. Whatever was bothering him was important. Aedan was rarely ‘on’ as she called it when they were in the penthouse. This firm, brusque exterior was not new; however, Jessica only saw it when she visited him during working hours at OMAP. “Do you think I am going to need a drink for whatever you plan on saying to me,” she asked still trying to be playful but now conveying it with dry and slightly sarcastic humor. The half grin and sing-song tone of her voice was gone.

Licking her lips Jessica realized she had to reign Aedan in. Maybe she had been too harsh on him about firing his crew. “Baby I am not made of glass. I can take care of myself. I was an intelligence officer by trade before I got the cushy corner office. Women have been having babies for millennia. I will be fine. You don’t need to worry okay,” she said softly trying to alleviate some of the tension in the room. Aedan was way too quiet and controlled right now. She had to find a way to make him relax some.

Finding a nearby chair he pulled up next to her as he placed an empty glass towards her and poured two drinks as he sat down.

Taking a deep breath Jessica reached out for one of the glasses. “God you don’t know how much I missed having one of these,” she replied.

“They’re both for me, you’re not cleared for this just yet… now… what is this about a letter to Mathias about what happened?” Aedan said, she hadn’t said anything of this just yet, but Aedan had every computer and device in his apartment off the grid and network for the Outpost, and he had everything monitored.

His team knew what keywords to look for, that much was clear thus his presence here now. What he intended though was yet to be said.

~Aedan Teller

Jessica shook her head slightly as if doing a double take. “How did…” Jessica didn’t finish her sentence as the pieces snapped into place. Aedan had set up a firewall which was why her ability to access internal communications had malfunctioned.

“Aedan, I am a Starfleet officer. I am responsible for the well being of every person on this station civilian or Starfleet. I have to file a report” she said firmly.

Lt. Commander Jessica Teller, XO

“No, you don’t…” Aedan said as he eyed her carefully as he took a sip from his glass. He knew his behavior had to be off to her, but trying to make her feel comfortable wasn’t anywhere on his agenda at the moment. “No, you are my wife. Yes you get to wear a uniform and go out that door, but I am fiercely protective of my properties… which includes you.” he said as he exhaled as he shook his head slightly.

“Your property,” Jessica said raising an eyebrow as she leaned back in the chair. “I am your wife. I am the mother of your child. Honey, I am not sure I qualify as community property. I mean that was not in the prenuptial contract,” she tried to lighten the mood of the room with a bit of humor. Right now Aedan was scaring her a little. Not the fear for your life or safety fears but more the unpredictable fear of not knowing what was going to come next. Aedan had a temper but so did she. Their arguments were explosive which were always balanced out with an equally fiery makeup session. This time however Jessica wasn’t sure how this was going to end.

“That’s not what the documents say.” Aedan said as he looked at her with a wicked little smile. “I am every bit yours though, as you are mine.” he added, breathing in softly he let his mind focus on what was needed, she wasn’t going to like what was going to be coming next, that much he was certain.

Taking a deep breath she decided to test the waters a bit. “Baby,” she reached out and touched his arm. “I can’t just pretend this didn’t happen. I have a responsibility to the federation.

“What do you think is going to happen if we tell people about this?”

“Aedan,” Jessica said almost desperately. “And how are we going to handle it when he comes out with his version and we stayed silent about ours. We are going to look guilty.” Her eyes searched his face for an answer.

“What do you think happened to Garviz?” Do you take me as a man who lets slights against him pass… against the ones he loves. Do you think he is just in some holding cell on this outpost? On my ship?” he said softly as he looked at her. The implication was there, she would know all of this if she was honest with herself .

The instant Aedan’s words left his mouth Jessica felt a cold chill run down her spine. Deep down she had known that Garviz was dead and that Aedan had killed him. She would have done it herself if Garviz hadn’t drugged her. The man was clearly a psychopath. It was a him vs. me incident. Aedan did only defended himself but a man was still dead. She did not speak but continued to listen as Aedan spoke.

“I am not a man who sits back, I am not a man who plays by anyone’s rules but my own. I didn’t get to this position through hugs and friendship… have you ever wondered why some of my nicknames have been Bloody Barron, Death Broker, Shadow Dealer. I don’t have a nice fluffy reputation and there is a reason for that. I love you, and I love Cera but don’t mistake my love for weakness. Have you ever asked yourself how seven years ago a man who was a nobody in the world of business suddenly became the most powerful man in social/media affairs?” he said as he left that statement stay in the air as he finished his drink. His eyes seemed to carve into Jessica seeking to learn how her reaction to all this would be. He thought she would have put much of this together by now, but he hadn’t gone out of his way to broadcast it either.

Jessica felt dizzy. She had known when Aedan first arrived that there had been an investigation into OMAP and Teller over the years. Everything always turned up legitimate but it was the entire reason she showed up that day at the loading dock when his assistant called her a rent a cop. Still, Aedan had made it so easy to live in a dream, ignore everything that was off. Now he was shattering the illusion of that dream and Jessica wasn’t sure what to do.

Sitting up he turned as he gazed at the painting on the wall, it was far more colorful than the tone the room was creating as he felt the silence seem begin to feel almost pungent. “I protect you, that’s my job. From others and from the parts of myself you couldn’t live with.” he said as he turned around. “You are my world, I know you know this. That doesn’t mean I won’t filter my world to give you the best of me. Let me be the darkness that lets you shine, it’s the only way any of this works.”

~Aedan Teller

“This is not the only way it works. This is not how any of this works,” she said softly laying a hand over his to draw his attention from the window back to her. “I don’t ever need the best of you. I only need you. Messy you. Happy you. Angry you. Sad you. As long as I have you I have everything I need…except a drink and a viable story to explain all of this so let’s start with the drink,” she reached for the cup. Aedan was going to be a hard sell on writing this report but he would have to understand she had a dual responsibility here. She would keep him out of it as best she could. “Luckily though for us I am the XO which means we should only have to answer to Mathias.”

Lt. Commander Jessica Teller XO

“You don’t understand doll… I don’t answer to anyone. I fought for all I have, from a gutter rat to a power. I make things happen, however I want them to happen. Which is why you are going to think about your loyalty, I don’t mind you working and helping this station but I demand form everyone complete loyalty to me if they want me to give the same. So when I say no one is going to find out… I mean it. My ‘cousin’ isn’t someone I am going to respect authority wise anytime soon.” Aedan said, using his fingers to make air quotes when he said the word cousin.

“So if you want me, if you want all this… you have to come to me first. If it effects me it effects us, you need to remember who loves you most in this world.” he said, the tone was soft and loving but the implications felt sinister at the same time. He wasn’t going to be taking no, he never took no.

~Aedan Teller

Jessica reached for the drink and took a sip. Aedan had said a lot but what he didn’t say had her on edge. She mulled over his words but a few stuck in her head: Loyalty. Property. Answer to no one. The liquid burned in her throat. It had been months since she had had a drink and if a pre-conversation drink was ever needed this was the time. “So if I am not with you I am against you,” she asked semi-sarcastically.

Aedan said nothing at her remark, the truth was he wasn’t too far off from saying that. There was some leeway she got by her status, but not as much as she may assume.

Aedan was her husband now, the father of her child. Her mother always said you never knew a man truly until you decided to marry him. Nothing Aedan was saying actually surprised her except for his almost demanding like tone that she fall into step like one of his employees. “Aedan I am your wife, not your employee. I married you. You did not hire me. I put you above all others so that doesn’t mean you don’t answer to no one. You answer to me as I answer to you. I will defend you until the day you die but you have to also take that chance in me. I’m not sure I want to know exactly what you do but you just opened a Pandora’s Box. How am I supposed to just pretend this Don Coreolone side of you did not just emerge in my bedroom,” she said voice rise in frustration.

“Who?” he asked her as he stared intently, he didn’t know the name and knowing her it was some obscure ancient Earth movie. She seemed to have memorized the Outposts database of classic pop culture.

“How am I supposed to react? Take Cera and divorce you? Ignore that one of your men tried to kill me to gain BFF status again? Pretend the world doesn’t exist outside these four walls?” Jessica rubbed her temples feeling a headache coming on. She loved Aedan like she thought she could love no other until she had Cera. “I would follow you to the ends of the universe but not because you demand it. Its because I love you. It’s because my life is with you. So don’t you ever dare to threaten me with an ultimatum again. Your penetrating stare, tensed posture, hint of follow me or be sorry in your mannerisms,” she swirled the contents of the drink in the glass once and then took another sip pausing in her monologue, “may work on others but I am not others. I am Jessica Teller, Mrs. Aedan Foster Teller. Remember that,” she set the glass down with a hard clink. “Now are we going to sit around and debate this more or come up with a diplomatic way to inform your cousin that your best friend was blown out of the airlock in a tragic crib assembly accident in Carbo Bay 18.”

Lt. Commander Jessica Teller, XO

“I made you Mrs Aedan Foster Teller, and I can unmake that. This isn’t a debate, you are right when I say you are in many ways expected to tow the line. I am not asking your permission, I don’t care about it. Mathias will know nothing, and you are going to make sure of that. Do I make myself clear?” whatever pretense he had before had vanished and replaced with a sharpness she was not familiar with.

“I love you, but that doesn’t stop me from getting my way. This is my penthouse, my business… my Empire. I am offering you to share in all of it, but you have to follow suite when I say jump… or this doesn’t work. I would never make you jump if it wasn’t important, and I would never let anything come in between us or Cera again. So, I want you to get dressed and come outside. I have a surprise for you love.” he said as he got up and moved out the door, leaving without even thinking there was more to talk about.

~Aedan Teller