A Quiet Dinner... Together

Posted on Thu Jul 13th, 2023 @ 11:27am by Lieutenant Alisha Reno & Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair

1,238 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Fast & The Fleet
Location: Jane's Quarters
Timeline: After returning to the ship/'Follow Up To The...'

The insurrection was over. The crewmembers of USS Myogi were back in their cabins, and could take the time to care for themselves and each other.

In all the chaos of the insurrection, Jane Sinclair had not had the chance to speak with Alisha about her first session with the Counselor. They had been pulled to their duties too quickly. But this evening was the perfect time for some self and mutual care.

They were still in orbit of Earth, so there was no need to risk the integrity of her quarters with cooking. She brought in food and set up a dinner date. She wore her white blouse and pleated black skirt, lit some candles, and waited for Alisha to arrive.

It was only a few minutes before Alisha all but dragged her way into Jane’s quarters, back to mostly the way she’d been before, all of the facial makeup taken off, but keeping her red hair for the time being. She’d gotten out of medical care on her own, but had commed Jane before she’d returned to the ship. Then things really got started, with a debriefing about what happened on the ground by a visiting Intelligence officer and that had been before she’d been able to get changed.

Now her hair was drawn back into a fiery ponytail and her clothes were changed, a red tshirt and black skirt, looking the worse for wear. She gave Jane a smile as she entered the door, but didn’t kick off her sandals as she’d intended on doing, but that was okay, “Hey, Sugarcube, how are you doing?”

“I’m alright,” Jane said, returning the smile and pulling Alisha in for a hug — gently, because she didn’t know the extent of any injuries. “How are you though? I mean, generally as well as specifically?” She pulled back to let Alisha answer but briefly grinned before she could respond. “Love that colour, by the way. Very Ginger Fox.”

Alisha relished the hug, but was just as gentle as Jane was. She was definitely aching, despite everything that the medical team on the ground and Doctor Delling had done. Being stunned was most uncomfortable and she knew she'd have the occasional muscle twitch for a few hours yet, "I need to wait a few more hours before I wash it out, less chance of it damaging the hairs themselves." It was a problem with color changes, that, "But... I'm doing. Don't get shot, even on stun, it hurts." She sighed heavily, "And I'm not doing very good overall. Don't worry, there won't be a repeat event, just, not getting enough rest. We've been way too busy to talk and yeah."

“Well, tonight, we have all the time in the world,” Jane said, giving Alisha’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Come along. I picked up dinner from a new place on Spacedock. All they do is appetizer foods, so I got some spring rolls, samosas, pork dumplings, and lettuce wraps. And a super secret special dessert.” She led Alisha to the table and held out the chair for her.

Alisha winced as she bent to sit down, but gave Jane an appreciative look for the assist, "Anyone who said appetizers and desserts for dinner isn't proper should be rounded up and tossed out an airlock!" The joke came off with a slight chuckle, but really didn't work out the way she'd planned, "But all of those sound just absolutely wonderful. I've always had a yen for samosas, especially with Amkoor ki chutney, it's a sweet and sour sauce, but they've got a chili sauce as well, depending on whether you want sweet or spicy. And here I'm just talking about food." Her eyes opened wide at what all Jane brought to the table, "And apparently we're hosting an army?" She laughed.

“I installed a mini fridge,” Jane said with a smirk. “No such thing as too much food anymore. Now it’s just food planned ahead of time!” She gestured to the small plate of sauces in the middle. “Sweet chili, hoisin, sriracha, aaaaaaaaand…amkoor ki chutney!” She poured them each a glass of syntheholic white wine and took her own seat. “How are your sessions with Counselor Scott going?”

Alisha's eyes went down to the table at the question, even as she reached out for a samosa first, using the opportunity for a quick bite to delay her answer. Like many people she knew, she was embarrassed that she had the actual NEED to be in a counselor's care and especially for the reason why. "I umm... Mmm... This is good!" She held up the crunchy dumpling with a bite taken out of it, "I only saw her twice before we got back to Earth and, well, convinced her that I could stay on duty, mostly, but you knew that already. I.. Haven't gone to see her since I got back aboard after... That, but I'm going to go tomorrow morning. I need to go tomorrow morning."

Jane reached across the table and took Alisha’s hand, intercepting it as it went for another samosa. “Hey. You do what you need to do to take care of yourself. And know that I’m here for you too. And remember that there’s no shame in getting help.”

"I know." Alisha forced a smile at Jane, squeezing her girlfriend's hand, "And I'm going to. I think I was wrong before, about just turning to duty to try to distract myself from what happened. I don't want to be a civilian again, not yet at the least, but I'm going to ask Brennyn to authorize me a temporary partial duty assignment. It's going to involve seeing her more often for sessions and it'll take me off of undercover duty for now, possibly permanently, but I need to accept what happened on Nikko and learn to deal with it."

“That’s a good idea, luv,” Jane said. “It’s important to learn to deal with what happened before you’re ever in a position where it might happen again.” The specific circumstances were incredibly unlikely to replicate themselves, but while they could hope for the best, the odds were high that Alisha would need to take a life again one day. She loosened her grip so Alisha could resume eating. “I didn’t tell you this before, but, ah, I’ve never been so scared as I was when talking you down with the phaser.”

The redhead nodded slowly, then reached up to brush some of that hair out of her face, "I can only imagine.. I was in a bad, bad place, but that's obvious. I'd just never wanted to think of what I'd done again and at the time, it was the only way I could figure to do it. But thank God that you came in when you did, because I had just about gotten up the nerve, I think.. The stars were just... Beautiful at that moment."

Jane nodded. "They are that." She didn't know what else to say, so for the moment she kept eating, Alisha's quiet presence being enough. They knew the other was there, and would continue to be there. That was enough.

END

A Post By

Lieutenant(jg) Jane Sinclair
Chief Flight Officer
USS Myogi

Lieutenant Alisha Reno
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Myogi

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