Posted Dec. 2, 2022, 5:02 p.m. by Major General Charles Tenkiller (Vice-Commander, Colonial Customs and Defense Agency) (James Sinclair)
Posted by Lieutenant Sharah Fayth (Chief Star Fleet Medical Officer) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be
Posted by Major General Charles Tenkiller (Vice-Commander, Colonial Customs and Defense Agency) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be
Posted by Lieutenant Sharah Fayth (Chief Star Fleet Medical Officer) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>“I never go anywhere without her. She’s in my apartment.” Hope was her constant companion. They could hear her take a long slow breath attempting humor despite the seriousness and uncertainty. “You can’t miss her, she’s my cherry blossom tree.” She peeked up at them trying to guage their reactions.
Sharah
Tenkiller looked at V and smiled. “Tree, huh? Well, sorry… thats a deal breaker. As you can tell…” and he gestured out the windows, “… I hate plants.” and he chuckled. He looked at V and said “Why don’t we all go and pick up Hope? And maybe pack a bag for a few nights? Sharah and V and Tenkiller and Hope… all under one roof. We’ll call it a sleepover. How does that sound to everyone? We can go get Hope and get Sharah some things, swing by V’s and let her grab whatever she might need for a long weekend, and then we can come back here and get sleeping arrangements hammered out.”
Tenkiller
Tenkiller’s easy acceptance made some of the tension rush out of her. Most people were disbelieving and off put by her connection to the plant. Hope was more like a cat to Sharah than a miniture tree. She thought Tenkiller understood that connection, he had melded with the melody so easily. Maybe she didn’t have to explain. Maybe he would understand if she did.
Yavia nodded, looking confused and mouthed, “Tree?” at him. How were they going to move a tree? How did Sharah even get a tree inside her apartment? Yavia loved being outside in nature. She’d told TK that their first date. She didn’t know much about taking care of plants though. She just liked them. They would just have to figure out how to move this tree. “Yeah, we can do that. I mean I don’t know about sleeping arrangements. Last time I had a sleep over, we didn’t sleep.” She winked at both if them, earning her a small snicker out of Sharah.
Yavia
Sharah found Yavia’s obvious confusion amusing, but didn’t correct her. The mention of clothes made her pause. She honestly hadn’t thought that far ahead, but she supposed if she was bringing Hope with her then she was going to be here awhile. Uncertainty gnawed her gut, but it was too late to back out now. At least, for Sharah it felt too late. She had agreed, sort of, and she would follow through.
Tenkiller snorted slightly and said “Well… let’s put a pin in that particular train of thought and concentrate on getting everybody settled and comfortable. How does that sound?” He looked over Sharah at V and mouthed SERIOUSLY? and grinned broadly at her. He then stood up and said “Now come along. We’re burning daylight.” and he held out a hand to each of them to help them off the couch.
Tenkiller
Yavia shrugged with a wicked grin. “I don’t know what you are thinking. My sleep ivers consisted of cheesy romance flicks, popcorn, ice cream, pillow fights, and juicy gossip.” She nudged Sharah’s shoulder gently. “I think he has a dirty mind.” She took his hand and stood leaning into his side a moment, waiting for Sharah.
Sharah couldn’t help it. She started laughing. “I think you like to encourage him.” They couldn’t be anything but themselves. They didn’t have to curb themselves or their relationship to be friends with her. At least…she didn’t want them to. She slipped on her shoes, and then let him helpbher up. She didn’t lean into him like Yavia did, but she didn’t let go of his hand either. Andbthat was huge for Sharah.
Then she followed them out to the car, pausing to stare at the semi wild space. She really just wanted to go get lost and listen. After a moment she let them usher her into the car.
Sharah
The three piled into the back and the car turned around and went up the steep incline and onto the street. Tenkiller put an arm around Sharah and said “Now start making a packing list in your head. Everything you’ll need for a few days. I’ll get Hope settled in the car while you two get whatever it is you need. Okay?”
Sharah nodded. She didn’t need to pack. The Star Fleet personnel were getting ready to practice emergency call outs. In anticipation, Sharah had already packed a bag with everything she might need. Yes the Centurion had replicators, but Sharah preferred to be prepared and organized. She would have to make sure her comms were set to forward to her personal PaDD incase the call came while she was gone.
A sxant few minutes later the car stopped in front of Sharah’s building. Tenkiller got out and held out a hand to first Sharah and second V, helping each one out and giving them both a quick hug. He looked at Sharah and said “Lead on, Doc.” and gave her a wink.
Tenkiller
Oh they were actually coming in with her, okay. She wasn’t going to run off, she didn’t think. She led the way into the building stopping at the security desk. “Afternoon…uh..Lt?” The young man was one of the new arrivals and he knew he recognized the doctor but it took a moment, he’d seen so many people since he started literally that morning. “…Fayth, CMO right?” Sharah nodded, “Afternoon En Klee. How was your first shift?” She placed her hand on the ID biometric scanner. The ensign made a vague response while Sharah added both her companions to a PaDD. “Ms Yavia Crockett, with Sacred Heart, and Major General Charles Tenkiller, CCDA.” The young man held the bioscanner out for each of them. The ensigns reaction to them both was, unfortunately, cliche.
Yavia placed her hand on the scanner, and had to resist the urge to drag Sharah into a hug and love all over her, just to shock the poor Ensign. But Sharah would probably disappear and never come out if she did that. The young man was looking at Yavia like all his hopes and disappointments rested solely with the Deltan woman. Yavia sighed and moved out of the way.
Tenkiller brushed past V and whispered just so she could hear “You have a fan. I’m so jealous.” and he smiled at her before moving forward to place his hand on the scanner.
His reaction to Tenkiller was a bit mixed. He knew what the CCDA was and his bearing altered subtly. He didn’t want the man to find any fault with SF Security. He looked perplexed though. “Do you have family in Star Fleet, Sir? I could have swore my cousin mentioned working with a Tenkiller on OP42 right before it was decommissioned. Such a shame. My cousin really liked being stationed there.”
Tenkiller looked at the Ensign and said “I might. What is your cousin’s name? Maybe I heard it from somebody.” Tenkiller asked. He was, in fact, that Tenkiller that had been the Chief of Security on the now decommissioned station.
Sharah led the way down the main floor, all the way to the end, then right and left again to the very last set of doors. Anyone with a mind for mental mapping would realize this particular apartment was the the furthest away from the main activity of the complex. She paused in front of the door. She had really come to hate this place. She pressed her hand to the control and the door opened. They were typical of fleet quarters with the standard furniture and colors. Sharah was a meticulously neat and organized person, which made the utter chaos of the area shocking. It wasn’t like her at all. The work station to the immediate left of the door was surprisingly empty. There were a couple of PaDDs next to the work console and a single framed photo laying flat on the desk, like she’d been staring at it. It was a picture of her, around 4 years old, and a grey and white kitten. They both looked a little blissful. There were a couple of photos on the shelves behind it. One of her, as a teenager, in a hospital bed, with all kinds of nodes stuck to her head, and a young man, given the resemblance must have been her brother. A second picture of her, maybe a couple of years later, with a couple that was obviously her parents. The final one was another picture of Sharah, about 8, sitting in a ship’s arboretum with a science officer, he had light dusty brown hair and there were probably about 15 planets and pots and a lot of dirt spread out around them.
The shelves were filled with medical journals and reference books, books on botany and plants around the galaxy, as well as old and current reference books to natural healing. Then there were books on fiction, fantasy, historical romances, biographies, contemporaries, classic sci-fi. It didn’t seem Sharah had a preference for genre, but she did have a preference for books of any kind.
The windows had no curtains. Instead rods were mounted above them with long hemp twin hanging down. 15 to 20 teeny tiny glass bottles were tied to the string and growing out of each one was growing various air plants, ranging in color from deep greens, to mints, to pinks, and peaches. The room was divided with what looked like indoor trellis pots. Meant to create walls, but none held plants. There were seed packets and split dirt, and gardening tools laying about. It was like Sharah had started the project, but never finished. A blanket had been stuffed down between a table and the couch. Out of sigh, out of mind. None of the clutter included dishes.
The most noticeable thing was the mess on the floor. Paper and colored pencils and charcoal. Some of the paper had incomplete sketches on them, most were finished and they were remarkable. Not just for the extreme amount of detail and accuracy, but something about the shape of the lines, the shading and blending of the colors and they way they seemed to radiate out and fade, the observer could feel the emotion of the moment in them - it was tangible.
Out the windows was a the start of a garden that contained, if one was familiar, an extensive variety of medicinal plants. What was not seen in the room or outside was a tree, of any kind. Sharah stepped into the room, and it was like watching Atlas have the world dropped onto his shoulders. “Come in. I’ll be right back.” She hurried across the room, picking up random sketches, about 6 of them, and a small PaDD. The sketches she placed into the replicator and recycled them. The PaDD she tossed into to a drawer at her desk and scooped the rest inside and locked the drawer. Then she disappeared into the bedroom.
Sharah
Tenkiller went to the recyclers and hit ‘Stop’ before the process started. He opened it and retrieved the sketches, casting a glance at the bedroom to make sure Sharah didn’t see him. “Make sure you get your toiletries and such. Favorite toothpaste and whatever.” he said to the doorway and then looked at the sketches. He looked at V and said “Help her real quick, and let me see what this is about.”
Tenkiller
Tenkiller
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