452: Waiter...

...There's an Electrode in My Soup
by Dabin Reece
80727.2300
Midday, the day After Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

-=Suite of Mr. and Mrs. Dabin Reece, Inn at Lake Cataria, Betazed=-



"Bru?"

Dabin nudged February gently.

Dinner at the Tryst household had turned into game time at the Tryst household, which evolved into the disastrous proposition of Charades. It had seemed like a good idea at the time but it took one round, which lasted a grand total of three tenths of a second, for Dabin to recall why its stupid to play a game like Charades in a Betazoid household.

Despite the failed parlor game, Dabin had thoroughly enjoyed the Tryst family, who weren't so bad once you got to know them. However by the time they staggered into their room at the Inn, exhausted from the long trip to Betazed, it seemed like maybe just going home after dinner would have been a good idea.

February was still laying on top of the blankets in her evening clothes, exactly as she had been when she collapsed on the bed in exhaustion.

*February!* He thought, and nudged her again.

"You're awake!" Dabin said with glee.

"Merf." She said into the pillow.

"Merf? That's not even a word. You can't merf right now, I have plans."

"Like I said." Bru cracked an eye open to look at him. "Merf."

Dabin let a few thoughts of lunch at an outdoor cafe cross his mind, and she immediately picked up on them.

*I am hungry,* she thought. *Ok, but then its back to bed for me.*

"Great!" Dabin exclaimed. "But I have one more request."

February groaned again, and pulled the pillow tighter around her head.

"I was hoping," Dabin began, "since we are on Betazed, and everyone here is a telepath, and they have some really great research scientists..."

"Oh no!" Bru sat up, and waved her finger. "No, no. No February guinea pig today. I'm on vacation."

"Wait! Hear me out. I arranged everything. Lunch at a cafe, a little dancing, a singer, flowers. You'll be treated like a princess. Except for a few electrodes attached to your head. And maybe to your abdomen. The doctors will take all their readings while we have our date. You won't have to life a finger."

February crossed her arms, then uncrossed them, then sighed. "This research means a lot to you."

"We're unique. I'd like to know why."

*That's not all.* February thought. *You have something to prove.*

Dabin blushed, a rather rare feat for him.

*You want to go home someday.*

"No." He started, attempting to clear up the mixed messages in her head. "I want you to be able to go home someday. If we have something to offer our people, maybe they'll see fit to... reconsider."

Dabin spoke of their banishment from the homeworld due to Reassociation, and the fact Reece and Grace would never be joined again.

"February Grace shouldn't just... end. It's not right."

"Dabin," February looked down at the floor and shuffled her feet. "I regret nothing, do you?"

"Of course not!" Dabin said, shocked at the very question.

"Then let’s learn about this for us, and because maybe it can do good for our people, but I don't need or want anything from them in return."

Dabin nodded, she was right. He owed no one any restitution for loving her. That much he knew. He would continue his work because he was a scientist, and it was in his blood to do so, but he couldn't have any expectations from Trill and their archaic beliefs. He did know in his heart the someday the ilk of those who banished their fellow Trill for Reassociation would receive their just dessert. Maybe not in Dabin's lifetime, but someday. Fear and ignorance always lose in the end.

February took his hand. "Let's go. This should be interesting."

She leaned against him as they walked hand in hand down the street. The occasional passer by would smile as they sensed the affection between the two.

"Here it is." Reece said with a smile. A group four scientists greeted them, around an outdoor table on the edge of the cobblestone street. Behind a curtain, out of sight, a large amount of equipment was set up to take and analyze readings.

On the wrought iron table was a large bouquet of pink flowers and two menus. Nearby a solo singer stood at the microphone, crooning a melody about True Love's Kiss.

February rather shyly shook hands with the Doctors. The cafe was beautiful and Dabin had thought of every detail, but it was still a little odd to know someone was going to be poking around in your head during lunch.

They sat at the table, and the head researcher tried to lighten the mood.

"Good afternoon, I'm Doctor Trulil, and I'll be probing your mind today, can I start you with an appetizer?" Dabin laughed, February shifted nervously in her seat. Trulil waved for one of his assistants to come to the table. The female Betazoid opened a case, and Trulil lifted out the items inside.

"These sensors will attach to your temples and allow us to track your brainwave patterns and the source of your telepathic energy. With a little time we should be able to figure out why this has happened to you." February drew her hair back away from her temples, allowing Trulil to attach the devices.

Dabin also brushed his hair aside, to accept his sensors.

"Enjoy your meal, and try not to speak out loud." Trulil said, before leaving the table. He was replaced by the real server, who opened the conversation by projecting his thoughts to the pair of Trill.

*Can I offer you a beverage?*

*Club soda, and lime me, my good man.*

*Club soda, and you do not need to lime me.* February thought.

The server thanked them and left the table. February lifted her menu to read it, but Dabin stopped her.

*Let me read it to you, it's a good use of our ability.*

*If you really want to be romantic you could sing the menu to me.*

*If I wanted to be romantic I'd have the singer sing you the menu.* Dabin observed, knocking his own vocal abilities.

Dabin went down the menu, and February settled on something that sounded like a soup and salad, deciding to go easy on her stomach knowing the doctor's were watching her every move. Reece waited for the server to return.

*Have you decided?*

*Almost. Is a grabash anything like a turkey?*

*You won't be able to tell the difference. It's a common Betazoid avian.*

*Good.* Dabin said. *Then I'll take the grabash club. You may want to reconsider renaming that dish, it's uncomfortably close to the Federation Standard word for trash.*

*Of course sir. And for the lady?*

February put in her order, and once again the server thanked them.

*So what do you make of this arranged wedding for the counselor?* Dabin asked, to start a conversation.

*He seems a bit nervous. I guess that's to be expected with an arranged marriage. You haven't really spent the time to get to know a person.*

*Or fall in love with them.* Dabin observed with a smile, thinking back to their time together on Trill, when he had fallen in love with her without even trying to.

February blushed, and there was a beep and a murmur from back behind the curtain where the doctor's were. She cleared her throat and turned the conversation back to Vol until their food arrived.

The server set a bowl of something that resembled a chili with small pasta noodles in it before her. She tentatively lifted the spoon, and took a sniff of the offering. Satisfied that it would not be the death of her, she took a taste.

*This is actually incredibly good.*

*I told you I took care of everything.* Dabin said. *Of course it's incredibly good, because so am I.*

February giggled, and took another taste of her soup, before something dawned on her.

*Dabin, how did you manage to set all this up without me knowing, anyway?*

*I have my sources.* He thought, but his mind's eye betrayed him as a vision of Dane Cristiane crossed his consciousness.

*You actually talked Dane into helping you set up a romantic dinner? I'm shocked he would help you.*

*I didn't really give him a choice.* Dabin thought with an audible laugh.

Dabin heard a splat, and looked up to see one of Bru's electrodes floating in her nearly empty bowl of soup.

*I think I was done anyway.* February observed.

*Waiter there's an electrode in her soup!*

Trulil bustled out of hiding, and attached a fresh probe to her temple.

Dabin cleared his plate, and passed on dessert. Instead, he opted to request a dance from February before their meal concluded. She accepted graciously and took his hand. Dabin signaled the singer, who began the rendition of "One" by U2 that Dabin had requested for this occasion. It wasn't quite the same without the guitar, but as he held her close and his thoughts turned to how wonderful it was to hold her like this, he didn't really mind.

His mind once again drifted and the equipment behind the curtain chirped once again. Trulil looked around the corner and raised his eyebrows.

*Sorry,* Dabin thought. *I can't help it.* He placed his hand under her chin to raise her face to his. *I love you.* He thought, and leaned in to kiss her. The music wound down, and the sound of Trulil clearing his throat finally brought an end to the kiss.

"Anything to report, Doctor?" Dabin asked, anxious for any preliminary information.

"Yes indeed. You have subtle telepathic activity happening in normally dormant parts of the Host’s brains. That's the source of the energy. We'll need to analyze all the readings we've taken to determine where what activated that part of your mind."

Dabin's mind was ablaze with possibilities of how this may have happened. "How soon?" He asked.

"A few days." Trulil replied.

*******************
Dabin Reece
The Scientist
USS Serendipity/Alchemy