LtCmdr Connor Dewitt - To the Water
Tim
((On Route to the Holodeck, USS Khitomer))
C. Dewitt: I really hope the surprise involves a chair, Ayemet. ::a beat:: I feel like I have not stopped moving in two weeks.
A. Dewitt: :turning to face Connor: You know what there actually is a chair involved.
Connor was going to ask a follow-up question about the chair, but he did not get to. As the lift doors opened, Ayemet pulled him into it before he had finished forming the sentence. The doors closed on them, and she leaned against the far wall. Connor saw that spark in her eyes that had made him fall for her all those years ago.
C.Dewitt: ::smiling:: You’re enjoying this too much.
A.Dewitt: :not taking her eyes off him: Deck 5.
Connor knew every deck of the ship by heart, and he just hoped that their trip would not lead them to the computer core.
C.Dewitt: I am going to guess that you’re taking me to the nacelle control for a routine inspection.
Before he could turn his lips into a smile, Ayemet took the front of his uniform in one hand and pulled him into a kiss. For sure, this was not going to be a routine inspection.
A.Dewitt: Don’t you think it’s time we had some fun?
The executive officer did not remember when he had last decided to have fun and leave the job behind. They had tried during the last shore leave, but then Captain Naxell had joined them on their romantic escape to a museum. A warm smile formed on his face.
C.Dewitt: I think it might be time we had a lot of things, Ayemet. Fun is a good place to start that list.
The lift chimed, and its doors slid open. Ayemet stepped out first and reached back for his hand without looking at him. Connor grabbed it and fell in behind her.
He had been running for the better part of two months, and he was not entirely sure he remembered how to be led anywhere. It felt good that Ayemet took control of their lives again. That’s something he had always loved about her.
They stopped in front of the holodeck.
A.Dewitt: Computer load private program Hotel Sierra Delta 1.
He caught the program name but had no idea what they were about to get into. Ayemet pulled him closer.
A.Dewitt: :whispering in his ear: Do you trust me?
C.Dewitt: ::quietly:: Always…
((Holodeck 1, USS Khitomer))
He took the step forward, still right behind her, and the deck under his boot became a pressed dirt path. The overhead light behind him got left behind, and warm evening light came in low over a small town surrounding the two. Smaller houses with stone walls fading into ochre. Wooden shutters were on almost every window with small flower pots to either side. Connor stepped closer to one of the houses and touched the wooden facade. A hanging string of drying leaves next to one of the windows caught his eye. He did not have to think very hard to identify. Moba leaves. A cool current in the air, with something wet at its far end.
He stopped and turned around, walking back to his wife.
C. Dewitt: ::softly:: I…
He was touching her hand again and smiled at her.
A. Dewitt: Response
He looked at the road. Then at the low stone wall along it on the town side. Then the row of shuttered windows across the way. His brain was looking for where he ad seen it before.
C. Dewitt: ::quieter:: I have been here, haven’t I?
A. Dewitt: Response
The wall on the right had a chip in it, which he would not remember until he saw it again. He put his hand on it. He did so because a younger version of him, drunk on poor Federation-issue champagne and a few shots, had put his hand on it. She had been laughing at him. He had felt the butterflies in his tummy.
He turned his head to look further down the road. His memories looked past the bend where the shutters gave way to an open field. He saw a treeline, and his inner eye could see beyond it. He knew where this road went. He had been here the night he made lieutenant junior grade.
The road went to the Lake.
C. Dewitt: It leads to the water, doesn’t it?
A. Dewitt: Response
TAG/TBC
Executive Officer
USS Khitomer
A239901CD3