Lt Alex Storm - Heart-rending Revelations

[Karen Morris]

((Elysium - Main level, Deck 6, USS Artemis))

 

Storm: If and when the time comes, I’ll let you know.  But … what about you.  Yeah, I’m betazoid, but I don’t need to be one to catch your guard slip a few moments ago.

 

Nat nodded - or at least started to, but Alex could feel something tense across her own shoulders as Nat did.

 

Cole: It’s not important, not like what you’ve been dealing with.

 

Storm:  Hey, I’ve bared my soul …::Tipping her head to the side and grinning::  or at least my misfortune to you.  I can likely handle whatever it is you’ve got going on.

 

Cole: Yeah… this time of year's a little complicated for me.

 

Storm: Family can be our biggest support or our worst enemy.  Unfortunately, the same can be said of ourselves too, sometimes.

 

Alex understood every look that flashed across Nat’s face - or more to the point, she recognized the looks because they were ones she caught herself using.

 

Cole: I call my father ‘the Commander’ Not as a joke. He was one in Starfleet, and he never really stopped being one at home. Everything was structure, discipline, expectations. ::a faint, wry smile:: Turns out that doesn’t leave much room for your kid to be… different.

 

Storm: Or truly themselves, huh?

 

Cole: I started my transition around the holidays. Thanksgiving, actually. My mom showed up. No questions, no hesitation. My sibling did too. He… didn’t. Instead of trying, he left.

 

Alex folded her hands in her lap.  Heart-rending revelations needed time to settle their heft into the space granted them.  After several moments, Alex reached over and set her hand gently on Nat’s. 

 

Natasha glanced back at Storm, grounding herself in the present.

 

Cole: So when the calendar rolls around to late November, my brain knows I’m safe … but my body still remembers, gets a little heavier.

 

Alex swallowed over the lump which knotted in her throat.  Alex gave Nat’s hand a gentle pat and set her hand back in front of herself.

Storm: Bodies do remember and carry the weight, even when we want them to forget.

 

Cole: And for what it’s worth? Calling him ‘the Commander’ helps. Keeps him where he belongs … in my past, and out of my head. ::a half smile:: Unless you're suffering from simulated radiation poisoning, Thanks for that Ollie.

 

Storm: Wait … when we were in that simulation at the end?

Cole:  Response

Storm:  So that’s what was going on?

Cole:  Response

Storm:  That makes so much more sense now!  ::Holding her folded arms palms up.:: I thought something was going on, but ::Placing her hands over her eyes momentarily before removing them:: I wish I had known.

Cole: Response

~*~

Tags / TBC!

~*~

Lt Alex Storm

Tactical Officer

USS Artemis

O240103SK2