by TC Blane and Keiran O'Sullivan
81002.12
Following Keys to the Kingdom
----------------------------
"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy."
~William Butler Yeats
-=/\=-
81002.12
Following Keys to the Kingdom
----------------------------
"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy."
~William Butler Yeats
-=/\=-
The corridors of the Serendipity were nearly silent at this late hour.
It had been a very busy day.
Keiran O'Sullivan quietly strolled familiar halls, lost in thought and in no particular hurry to reach his destination.
He'd first gone from the Bridge to Sickbay but been turned away; told that no one was to see, or disturb the Captain until morning.
He'd tried every argument he could think of to convince the LMH to just let him look in on her, but McKay had objected that if she realized he was there, she'd never go back to sleep. He then suggested that a little sleep wouldn't kill O'Sullivan either, and threatened to knock him out with a hypo and 'toss his high-ranking ass onto the nearest biobed like a sack of Irish Potatoes' if he didn't go back to quarters to try to get some rest immediately.
So he had tried his level best, but he just couldn't sleep. Even though he wasn't hungry, he knew it'd been a long time since he'd had anything substantial. Maybe if he could eat something now as the Admiral had suggested, then he would be able to sleep for at least little while.
He could have replicated something quickly, but the walls of his quarters seemed to be closing in around him, until he simply had to get out.
Besides, now that he had set foot back onto the Serendipity and hoped to stay, he felt that he wanted to get his first appearance at this particular location over with.
There was someone here he felt he owed an apology.
"Mister London,"
"Evenin', governor, how can I..." Trick looked up from the bar and almost shattered the fragile champagne flute he was holding when he saw who it was that was addressing him. "O'Sullivan...I..." Trick couldn't help but look around at the newly redecorated Illusions Lounge and remember who it was that instigated the fight that had destroyed the previous incarnation of the place.
"Before you say an'athing, I want to tell you two things. First, that I'm sorry for the trouble I caused the last time I was here, and second, you have nothin' more to worry about on that account. I've sworn off drink, for good."
"Don't mention it." Trick answered in his best Hospitality Management voice. "You're not the only man who has ever had one too many and gone a little crazy," Trick smiled, but his eyes said that he still didn't trust O'Sullivan any farther than he could throw him. Considering the man's size, that would not be far. *Especially not the first man to do so over a woman,* he thought to himself. "Would you care for a synthale?"
"No thank you. Not even the synthetic stuff anymore. But," O'Sullivan scanned the room and his eyes settled upon a man just taking a seat at a small two-top by the windows. "I think that I would like to see if Mister Blane would allow me to join him for dinner. Excuse me."
London waited until O'Sullivan had walked away and then hurried into the kitchen. "Angus!" He exclaimed, "You will never believe who is in the dining room..."
Keiran looked down at the stylishly dressed, clean shaven Blane; quite a different sight than he'd been when they'd met in the transporter room hours ago.
"Evenin' Commander,"
"Evening, Captain,"
"Please." Keiran extended his hand toward Blane. "If you've held a man in a headlock until he's passed out to save him from his own drunken stupidity, seems you should call him by his first name afterward."
TC smiled broadly. “Sure thing Captain.”
"In my estimation I still owe you a dinner, but it seems you've already gotten a head start on that." He gestured toward the enormous cheeseburger with everything that sat perfectly plated in front of Blane. "Would you mind if I joined you, then?"
"Not at all," He kicked out the opposing chair with his foot. “Have a seat. If I knew your gonna buy I would have ordered the lobster.”
"There's always next time." O'Sullivan's face reflected his deep, and sincere gratitude. "I owe you far more than just dinner at this point...far more than I could ever," his words trailed off as he thought about all that Blane and the rest of the team had gone through to save Carrick from certain death.
He settled in, maneuvering his chair closer to the table. "I can't thank you enough, for all you did with the Away Team. If there's ever a way for me to repay the kindness, if it's in my power to do so, you have but to ask."
TC shook off the offer, thinking back to the Slyph conjured reality and that last drink he had shared with grave of the man who sat across from him now as well as the favor he thought he was asking of the mans spirit.
“Just doing my job, I like to think you would have done the same for me.” He took a sip of water. “I will however keep your offer in my back pocket.”
"Fair enough." Keiran nodded. "You just do that, yeah? And you're right, Mister Blane... the same, I would've done."
He looked all around now, taking in the scenery. "I see that everything around the ship seems to be in order. A few new faces..." Keiran picked up and began to analyze the menu in front of him.
He was still in a state of shock over the conversation he'd had with Lassiter, finding it hard to accept that he was finally free of Temporal Investigations at last. It was, frankly, impossible to believe. So for now, he just set the idea aside, focusing on putting one foot in front of another until he saw what tomorrow would bring.
He was comforted, though, just by being back on the Sera and in current company. He was also finding great solace in the knowledge that both Carrick and Liis were sleeping safely aboard, in large part because of the man sitting across from him. Finally, he felt that he may actually be able to eat.
"Yeah, new faces to be sure but no one from the Starfleet crew seems to be missing. That's a good thing."
*One almost was,* TC remembered how Vox had recalled Zanh, arrested her and how willing she had been to just resign herself to that fate at the time. "We've had a close call or two since you've been gone, but we've come through pretty much intact."
"I heard a rumor that the little baker has left,"
"Le Marc requested shore leave," TC answered simply. "I don't know if she'll return or not."
Keiran considered this information carefully as the a waiter stepped forward to take his order. "I'll have the porterhouse. medium rare, please. Baked potato, sour cream."
"To drink?"
"Just water, thank you. Oh," He smiled broadly. "Add a lobster tail, for Mister Blane." He nodded to TC after the waiter walked away. "Even if you don't get the whole thing, can have a taste, right? 'Tis the thought that counts I hope."
TC snickered. “Maybe but it does not fill the belly. Thanks.”
"Have I missed anything interesting? Weddings, birth announcements..." Keiran wanted to take in all the good news that he could tonight. Now that he'd had some after so long without any, he was thirsty for all he could get.
"Vol Tryst almost got married. On Betazed. That's where we went after we left Earth last," TC explained.
"Almost. But not quite, yeah?"
"Nope. He was in love with someone else, and he did the right thing in the end. Stopped the ceremony already in progress."
"A wise man." Keiran replied. "Tell me now, did the Counselor have a traditional Betazoid wedding?"
"He did."
Keiran's bright blue eyes widened, gleaming with mischief as he asked a question he was sure he knew the answer to. "Did the Captain attend in traditional fashion?"
"She cheated." Blane laughed, and Keiran laughed as well, needing no further explanation now. He made a mental note to tease Liis about it mercilessly at a later date.
Keiran tried to approach the next question as casually as he could, knowing damn well there really was no casual way to ask it. "So...I hear the Vedek has gone off. Back to Bajor."
"Who told you that?" TC asked, not wanting to volunteer any information that Zanh had told him in confidence.
"Doctor McKay happened to mention it in passing." Keiran answered, fidgeting with his napkin before unfolding it and placing it into his lap. That was a wee bit of a stretch, in fact, the LMH had only 'mentioned it' after Keiran had taken note of Jariel's absence and asked him directly if the Vedek was still aboard.
"Yeah, he did."
"Been gone awhile then?"
"Yes." He took another bite from the impressively large and juicy burger in front of him.
"Can I ask you, when did he go?"
"Right after we got to Betazed..." TC answered. "Not long after you departed the ship and," He looked up at Keiran across the table. "Not long after I gave her your letter."
*Saints above, I completely forgot about the letter,* So much had happened, that it had slipped Keiran's mind entirely that she might have read it. "Oh," he held his hand out across the table toward Blane. "Thank you, Blane. I," Again, he was at a loss as to how to properly express his gratitude.
TC set his burger down and shook O'Sullivan's hand before returning to his meal. “You asked me to do it and I did. I am a man of my word.”
"That you certainly are. Did she..." He stopped. He realized that it was entirely unfair of him to be asking Blane so many questions of a personal nature about Zanh. She was not only his friend, but she was also his Captain and it was selfish of him to put Blane on the spot in this fashion.
"Did she what?"
"Nothin'. Nevermind. I owe you an apology, Mister Blane. I didn't mean to take our dinner conversation so far off track. Just let me tell you that I'm grateful to you for seeing she got that letter. You're a good man, a fine officer, and a loyal friend to her." He smiled, "I hope, perhaps I'll be lucky enough to call you my friend as well in future."
TC smiled. “I think I would be the lucky one.”
-Later-
Their dinner plates were empty, and they were the only two customers left in the lounge as the staff began cleaning and resetting tables for the breakfast rush.
Conversation had dried up and O'Sullivan now sat mesmerized, watching condensation run down the sides of his glass of ice water.
He was a man with a great deal to be grateful for, he knew this and was certain that he'd remember it. It was just that he was also a man with a great deal to worry about still, and he was having trouble reconciling the two reactions after the events that he had experienced on his own and been forced to experience by the Sylph in recent days.
"I didn't know it was so interesting," TC ventured, gesturing with his fork as he prepared to finish off the slice of apple pie he'd ordered for dessert.
"What's that now?"
"Watching ice melt." He indicated O'Sullivan's glass.
Keiran sighed and sat back in his chair. "Watching things change. Watching them change and wonderin' what, if anything, can ever stay the same."
"Change is inevitable, but it seems to me that you're a man for whom some things just...never do. Tell me, Captain, with all the times and places you've lived in, has there been anything that has stayed consistent?"
"A few good friendships." Keiran answered slowly, thinking that those kinds of friends were very rare indeed. "The way I feel about my boy,"
He looked up from his glass at last and dead into the intense eyes of the Sera's Second Officer.
"The way I feel about her."
Again, he sighed. "Trouble is, three times now I have had to watch as history damned us both for those feelings. The way she's looked at me, not just today but when we were on Earth last time to say goodbye..." he lowered his voice, "...could lead a man to believe that he might have a chance yet." He paused, again struck by the way she had looked at him for that split second before she'd passed out.
She didn't say a word, but in her eyes he saw very clearly how happy she was that he was alive.
"The way that I have looked at her ever since the memories returned to me...she must know that I want one." He pushed his empty plate away, and shook his head as he spoke.
"They're telling me that it's different this time. The very same people who told me before that it was wrong to be with her, and they were right."
Keiran was a man very much in need of a sane voice to tell him that he was right to be afraid; that it would make sense for any rational person to be afraid of repeating mistakes of the past that had such devastating consequences.
Some part of him, though, was also hoping that Blane would tell him that the only thing he needed to trust was his own instinct. "But what if this time, they're wrong and I have to go through the whole nightmare again? If I lost her again, I don't think I could survive it, Thomas. Truly."
TC just listened, knowing that the man was not yet finished talking.
"Still..." Those instincts were telling O'Sullivan in no uncertain terms that if he didn't try again to win her, that he would regret it, however long the rest of his life in this time may last. "How can I be standin' there, breathin still and look at her and not..."
“Stop.” TC held up his hand practically tossing his fork. “Let me get this straight. You do not question the friendships that have lasted though all of the timelines you’ve traveled, you don’t question how your love for your son has not changed during your experiences but you are questioning whether to love a woman who’s mutual love has survived through space and time?” TC let the notion set in.
“Frankly, Keiran, I personally don’t give two golden geese for any other timeline then here and now. This is where we are, where we live, where we love, where we survive, and where we will most likely die.” TC sighed. “Stop thinking, man. Stop wondering. Stop delaying. Stop questioning. Both you and the captain deserve to be happy, here and now.” He tapped the table top with his finger to drive his point home.
He stared at Keiran with ice blue eyes that seemed to shine ever so brightly. “Just live and love for the now. Take what you’ve been blessed with and live it...” he paused.
“Or so help me I’ll choke you into unconsciousness again.” He smiled before picking up his fork again.
-----------------
Captain Keiran O'Sullivan
Between Assignments
Aboard the Serendipity
and
Commander TC Blane
Second Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Captain Keiran O'Sullivan
Between Assignments
Aboard the Serendipity
and
Commander TC Blane
Second Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012