STF

Three Isn't A Crowd If You Don't Want It To Be

Posted Dec. 7, 2022, 3:02 p.m. by Civilian Yavia Crockett (Nurse - Sacred Heart Hospital) (Jennifer Ward)

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 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… suppressed (14) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Sometime after she had fallen asleep and they had made their way downstairs, Sharah woke from dreams that were not her own. Dreams filled with others dreams, thoughts and feelings. This was no new occurrence. Her curse ensured it was not new. But this time it was cruel. For last weeks Sharah felt they had returned with a vengeance. It was vicious that the comfort and reprieve that she had gained had been so cruelly yanked away. Sharah just felt it was due punishment for being what she was.

Sharah woke confused and muddled from the strange conglomeration of others’ minds. She reached for a hand that would never be there again. That woke her fully into a room she was not familiar with. She sat up, heart racing looking around. It was a long moment before her conscious mind separated from her subconscious and the surroundings registered and the events of the day. Distance didn’t make a difference, but yet it did. Her range was incredible, and that made the noise worse but could also allow the noise to be a type of filter. Closeness of proximity made people’s thoughts clearer, especially if there were very few within that close proximity. It took less than a second for Sharah to realize that events taking place in the house had played part in the mosaic of images in her dreams.

She hated being privy to such things. She always had. As a child it had been frightening because she didn’t understand the feelings and thoughts. Now, well she just hated the invasion of privacy. It made her extremely happy for Yavia and Tenkiller. They fit and flowed together unlike any two people she had ever met before, and the odds that they had actually met were huge. No, she couldn’t be any happier for them. She needed a distraction, a filter. Not just to stop the invasion of privacy but from her own harsh dark thoughts and the monster that never left her. Deltans were mostly line of sight telepaths, but Sharah also knew with familiarity they could reach those they were close too. She didn’t know how that worked for Yavia, but she wouldn’t disturb her now for anything. One obvious was cleaning up the snacks and drinks, but she didn’t want them to hear her and feel they had to check on her.

Her sketches were for such times. They let her filter each out one by one until she got at her own feelings, her own emotions, but those things were in her room, too close and she wasn’t really as light footed as she would like, and she would not go into Tenkiller’s studio to find them. He had shared but she wouldn’t cross that line. That was his sanctuary. Her garden was always a good option. Uncle Olly had helped her learn that many years ago and it was a constant. Hope didn’t need her, but there was a whole miniature forest outside the door. Without thinking about it, she grabbed the blanket Tenkiller had put over her and then slipped quietly out the door, leaving it cracked so she could get back in. Her mind and emotions were too muddled and tumultuous to worry about security system or how cold it was out. She didn’t intend to go far from the door or for long. Just to loose herself in the music for awhile, to hide from herself.

Sharah

Tenkiller lay on the bed, the bath long since vacated for the more… ‘supportive’… platform of the bed. As he and V lay there, the chronometer / communicator on his wrist chirped a series of sounds and he sat up quickly. “The door was just opened and didn’t close.” He looked at V and said “I’ll be right back.” He got up and reached in the drawer of the bedside table for something he palmed in his hand and he moved to the bedroom door, his footfalls completely silent. He listened at the door and then slid it open and looked back at V, motioning her to stay put.

He moved silently down the hall, listening briefly at each door before heading up the stairs. Of course, he realized it was probably only Sharah… but in his line of work he had made enemies. He went through the kitchen and living room and peered in the den. Sharah was gone, and so was the blanket he put on her. His alert level lowered slightly, but he moved to the front door and looked out the ajar opening.

Across the drive and in the foliage of the yard was a flash of color, and he saw Sharah move into the trees. He walked out and across the drive, ducking under a limb and moving into the dense canopy.

“Sharah?” he asked softly. “You okay?”

Tenkiller

Sharah didn’t feel him approach, so determined to get lost in anything (or maybe his own natural ability). She did’t hear him either. The sudden sound of his voice startled her, pulling the blanket tight around her shoulders. Stupid stupid reckless Sharah. Wandering around in the middle of the night. Right on the heels of that was recognition of his voice. As she turned she looked haunted and sad, She had been crying, she didn’t even realize she had been, but the cool air cooled the hot tears on her cheeks. She opened her mouth to answer him, but nothing came out. Not one single tiny sound. Her mouth opened and then closed again. Not a sound. She was dumb struck except for the absurd observation that he was not joking about it being a nudist retreat.

Sharah

Charles looked at her, concern and worry on his face and coming off of him in waves. He took a slow step forward and said “Sharah? Hey… its me. Charles.” He held out his hand to her, slowly. He watched her intently and then saw her eyes flicking back and forth… or rather, down then up. He was confused for a moment, and then a most sudden and quite disconcerting realization came upon him.

He was naked.

In his hurry to make sure everything was alright, he had failed to procure a single stitch of clothing. So now he was nude, in the woods, with a phaser and a crying woman. He froze and his eyes went wide and his skin noticeably blushed, even in the faint light they had. He smiled and said “Uh… maybe we… I mean… um… maybe you could loan me that there blanket, and then you and I go back inside? Coul-… could we maybe do that… please?”

Tenkillef

Sharah wasn’t sure who was blushing more, her or him. When he asked for the blanket she very swiftly removed it from her shoulders and handed it to him. She turned back toward the trees, not out of some idea of modesty. She looked toward the trees, the idea of hiding, so appealing, at least for awhile. She gave a slow nod, “Yeah.” She had wanted to not disturb them, but it was already done, and he was not going to leave her out there. He’d brought a phaser! Crazy man.

Sharah

Charles took the blanket and quickly made a makeshift toga out of it. He looked ridiculous… and he knew it. He smiled at her and said ‘Well… like my Daddy always says… pays to advertise!” and he laughed at the absurdity of it all. “C’mon, hun… lets go in. I’m sorry, I just got an alert that the door had done some weirdness, so… well… ya know.” He reached for her hand, thought better of it and dropped his to his side. Trying to make light of the entire situation, he grinned at her and said “So I guess now is a bad time to suggest we wrestle, huh?” and he threw back his head and laughed.

Tenkiller

She shook her head. He hadn’t done anything wrong or upsetting. If she wasn’t so battered by it all, she would have laughed at the situation. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.” The security system, she hadn’t taken into account for that. She hadn’t taken account for much of anything. She had just wanted…to escape herself. She reached for the offered hand, but then it was withdrawn. It felt like rejection. She didn’t register anything else he said.

A part of her seemed to be outside it all. She was looking down at herself and knew she was misinterpreting the gesture. He was offering space, that she had insisted on. She knew that she wasn’t thinking or feeling right. She was disoriented and confused by lack of decent sleep and the constant headache. She wasn’t used to it anymore. She watched as she backed away and screamed futily at herself to stop. She hadn’t run away in years, not since she was a child. It wouldn’t help.

Her hand dropped as she took a step back, then another, and another. She was broken and no one wanted something broken.

Sharah

Charles stopped and looked at her. He saw the hurt, the pain… the sheer exhaustion. He took a deep breath and said softly “Shar… c’mere. You dont have to run. You dont have to hide yourself anymore, hun. I see you. V sees you. And… and… we really want what we see. We want you, Shar… all of ya. Mind, body, and soul… all of it. We want ya here with us. I want ya here with me. You can come home, Shar… right here.” and he titled his head to the house. “You are part of us, Shar… and we wouldn’t want it any other way.” The compassion, empathy, his hurting for her… his affection and desire and deep, deep yearning to have her with them rolled off of him like landslide after a heavy rain.

Tenkiller

Sharah rocked back as it hit her, from the sheer force. The feelings weren’t detrimental or harmful just really intense. She wanted to believe him, Korczak would say she needed to. Other people had said the same thing, and they left…”You don’t know,” a forlorn whisper. She had a choice, she understood that. Intent counted for so much, and she could choose how she used it. That didn’t negate the risk if she couldn’t control it. She knew that and that made her responsible.

She rubbed her arms slowly against the chill. Did he know? Did he really know the whole truth? Did Yavia? She doubted it. She felt the sudden realization in her earlier as she began to understand. It was easier to take it at face value than face the secret. She wasn’t even supposed to know the secret.

He was hurting for her, because of her. She could feel Yavia’s concern and worry from the house because he hadn’t come back yet. Sharah couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t abide people hurting, it was painful. It was half the reason she became a doctor. Them hurting was so much worse. She wasn’t just sharing it, it was her pain too, and she could fix it, she just had to go back with him. That connection, that need, drew her forward like an anchor line.

Sharah

Charles wrapped his arms around her and he squeezed her to him. “I got ya, Shar… I got ya. C’mon… let’s get you home.” and without a beat he scooped her up off the ground and carried her into the house.

He squeezed her and for a moment she stopped feeling like she was falling apart one chip at a time. She deflated, collapsed a little against his chest as he lifted her. She didn’t even protest. Her arms went around his shoulders and her face disappeared against his neck.

“We’re okay, V. Everything’s good. Get the blankets ready, will ya?” he called out as he headed down the stairs and towards the bedroom. “And cover up. She’s seen one of us nekkid already, no need to push the nudist agenda so soon.” and he laughed.

Yavia heard them come in, the impetuous woman had sorta stayed where he told her to. At least she was still on the basement floor. She had stood by the door and when she was certain no one was in the house (because there was no sound of confrontation) she had dashed out to Sharah’s room to see if she was there. She assumed if she was upstairs TK would send her down there if something was wrong. Then realizing she had no idea what she would do if someone was in the house, she went back in his room and closed the door and listened.

She pulled on her PJs and then pulled the blankets back and then opened the door. Why was he carrying her? “Is she hurt?” She eyed his strange toga and then it occurred to Yavia how TK had left the room and if she wasn’t so worried she would have fallen on the floor laughing.

He walked Sharah into the bedroom and put her down on the bed and quickly flipped the blanket over her. He looked at V and said “I’m gonna put on some… uh… pants.” and he turned to go to the dresser… when the toga fell off. He froze for a second and then just shook his head. “Well, ain’t nothing nobody here ain’t seen tonight anyways.” he said with a resigned chuckle. He grabbed some pajama pants and a shirt from the floor and quickly dressed. He put the phaser back in the bed side table and turned to the two women and said “So do we talk now, or…” and he looked to them for guidance.

Tenkiller

Sharah curled on her side under the blanket. She shouldn’t be here. This was their space. At least tonight it should have been. She hadn’t seen the room yet, so when she opened her eyes and saw tree trunks she was slightly confused, until she realized they were cut boards for wall paneling. Something about it was very comforting. She could hear water and thought maybe Yavia had turned on the sink until she felt the woman settle on the bed beside her.

Yavia grinned, an appreciative smile on her face, but didn’t say anything. Yavia climbed onto the massive bed and settled next to Sharah, tucking the blanket around her. Sharah was hurting, a massive headache and she was cold. She gently brushed her finger tips across her temples and forehead. “Shhh, Sharah let me. It won’t stop the input but it will ease the headache.”

Sharah moved away from Yavia’s hands, but the nurse was determined and Yavia’s feelings and stubbornness about it told Sharah real quick to give in. She wasn’t winning this one.

Yavia looked at TK over the curled up woman. She didn’t know. She brushed her fingers over Sharah’s hair. “Sweetheart, why did you leave?”

Yavia

She didn’t want to talk. No more why’s and how’s and what’s. Just because she didn’t want to didn’t mean it worked that way, though. “I…didn’t want to listen.” She hadn’t, but also it was the dreams. They were confusing and disorienting. “I don’t sleep…not much.”

Sharah

There was something in Sharah’s feelings (embarrassment, guilt, and something else that was hard to name instead of feel) when she said she didn’t want to listen. The way her eyes darted between them. Oh… She glanced at TK and the at Sharah again. She ran her hand over Sharah’s hair and down her arm and back. Helping her relax and giving comfort. “Sharah…you didn’t want to listen to us did you? You knew, you could feel it.” She hugged her gently. “I am not bothered to know you share that, but if it bothers you, we will find a way.”

Yavia

“Absolutely we will. Im with V, I don’t mind you picking up on me… or she and I. But you are allowed to be comfortable here. And we will do whatever we can to make that happen.

Oddly enough, for the very first time she could remember it didn’t make her uncomfortable. It had always felt like a violation to her or to others. This was very different. “I’m…not uncomfortable, and it’s just strange not to be.”

“Strange we can work with. Honestly, I kinda figured that would be our go to for a while.” Charles said with a grin.

Tension melted out if her, it was noticeable. Yavia was very skilled. Everything felt so complicated and painful. There was far too much input for Sharah to make sense of it. It would take time before she could sort it all out, and she was just too exhausted now.

Charles slowly climbed onto the bed and settled close to Sharah on the otherside from V. He put his hand on her shoulder… and there it was again. The feeling of being whole. He looked at Sharah and said “Ok… I understand now.” And he did. Part of his intake when he took the job with the CCDA was a briefing on various groups and individuals in the colony. Sharah had been one of them. She wasn’t couched as a threat by any means. She was mentioned as a very powerful empath and telepath, capable of reading people without even trying. It was recommended that anyone with classified or confidential information minimize any time spent in her presence to ensure such secrets weren’t revealed.

Tenkiller was never one to take ‘recommendations’ from anyone in power.

She heard his thoughts. They soothed (he knew before) and they made her ache (how much was still a secret). He knew more than most, understood the potential risk she supposed, but didn’t listen. That didn’t surprise her at all. They agreed no secrets, “They’re not nearly worried enough. They have no idea.”

Charles shrugged slightly and said “Well… ‘they’ in this is me, so you just let me worry about that. And I don’t. So let’s take that off your plate if we can.”

Either the man was stubborn or he was dense. And Sharah knew it wasn’t the later. Maybe she just wasn’t being clear. “I could kill people.” As in plural. It came out so fiercely and she was damn sincere about it, and she felt so genuinely frightened Yavia had to hug her.

Charles held her hand right and said “I know. But hun, that doesn’t make you a threat or a bad person. There are a lotta people who could kill others. People… multitudes of them. I include me in that group. But just ‘cause ya can, doesn’t mean you will. And my Pa told me once: If’n ya only focus on what you ‘could’ do, you really miss out on what you can do.”

Fear and terror were the only things Yavia could get from her. Maybe a hint of desperation, the clinging to straws type. But under it all Sharah was hiding a sense of hopelessness - she’d given up. She was hiding it from them, but also from herself. At her core Sharah didn’t want to be the person who gave up so totally, but something had pushed her to the edge. Honestly if Yavia hadn’t spent her life caring for those who felt they had no control and no way forward, she probably would have missed that feeling within Sharah. She would have to talk to TK about it, bit not now. Sharah was talking, a little, and trying to relax. Yavia didn’t want to increase the tension.

“Shar…” he said softly, “.. I’m so sorry. I can’t begin to imagine what its like to live with that amount of noise in my head all the time. But hun… we can help. We may not be able to shut it out, but we can help ya cope with it. Keep it from drowning ya. We’re your life raft, Shar. Let us help… please.”

Tenkiller

If she agreed they were going to ask her how, and she didn’t know. She had been researching most of her life. They did help, she couldn’t explain it. They soothed all the raw painful edges. It was much more noticeable when they were together. She was supposed to let people help, to care for and about her, and let herself feel that. To try and accept that. She let out a heavy breath. Yavia was rubbing her arm and she stretched a hand across herself to reach her hand. Her other slipped into his hand and she nodded, contrary to her loneliness and fear. “Okay.”

Sharah

Charles squeezed her hand. “Good. So just relax a bit, hun… we ain’t going anywhere and you are with us. You belong with us. Together. The three of us. And no amount of noise can be louder than what we all have together.”

Tenkiller

She nodded. She wasn’t convinced, but she was convinced that they were certain of it. Tenkiller certainly was. She wanted that to be enough. This time she took a deep breath and slowly let it out and tried to relax some. It wasn’t hard, she was too tired to hold onto it and she was warm and co.fortable there between them.

Sharah

He felt her relax just a little bit, and he brushed the hair from her face. He looked at V and smiled. It was a look that thanked her for being her… and being there.

Tenkiller

Yavia smiled gently in understanding. There was no where else she would want to be. She brushed her hand down Sharah’s arm to where he was holding her hand, so they were all connected together at one point. Making that feeling of completeness so much stronger. Sharah was hesitant but kept seeking Yavia’s mental touch. Yavia understood Sharah needed that connection, that acceptance from her. One she had been denied and deprived off. Yavia gave it freely and with abundance. She also understood Sharah was extremely frightened and right now more than acceptance she needed to feel safe, and she needed that, was seeking it from TK.

Yavia


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