By Keiran O’Sullivan
(as told by Dabin Reece)
81019.2300
Concurrent with All Dressed Up
-=Guest bedroom of the O'Sullivan Residence=-
(as told by Dabin Reece)
81019.2300
Concurrent with All Dressed Up
-=Guest bedroom of the O'Sullivan Residence=-
SH on the left, and TV on the right.
The initials of the family motto were engraved on the cufflinks Liis had given him as a Groom’s present. They were beautiful, classy, appropriate, heartfelt, and containing every emotion a man could ask for on his wedding day.
What they lacked, were directions.
If only she had thought of the same gift the last time they had gotten married, perhaps he would not be in this predicament. Then he would remember exactly how one was supposed to attach these things to your cuffs, and what exactly they were supposed to do.
Mary Clare was not helping.
“God himself could not help this man clean up for a little bit of class in a wedding outfit. Would you just let me Keiran?”
“Mary, darlin’ I love you, but I once saved a 210 pound Vulcan from certain death by leaping out of a seventy-fifth floor window with him and calling for transport in mid-air. I think I can handle a few cufflinks.”
“It’s really not that hard. You just clip them then push them through the hole.”
“I know, I know, these wrists aren’t exactly nimble, my dear. It just takes the right motion. Besides I’m a wee bit distracted.”
Mary watched him again and again try to fasten the button, and each time the cufflink slipped through his fingers.
“Are you sure you don’ want my help?”
“You can help by not a starin’ at me like a leopard.”
Mary Clare turned her back to him, and stared straight ahead at the wall. She heard the rustling of fabric, then a curse. Then more rustling, then a curse.
“Do ya kiss yer fiancée with that mouth? I have a mind to put a stop to this whole thing.”
“Next time I kiss her she won’t be my fiancée anymore, so no, I do not.”
Mary Claire spun back around, and reached out to grab his wrists. “Oh, would you just let me?” She pleaded.
“No, they were a gift from Liis and I’ll do them myself.” Keiran protested, stubborn as always.
“But I can show ya.”
“Just let,”
“But,”
“I.”
*Clank.*
By now they were playing tug of war, or they were until one of the cufflinks flew from his sleeve, clattered to the floor, and rolled straight into the heat vent.
“Now look what you done.” Mary Clare chastised him. Keiran peered through the slats in the vent and saw the cufflink about five feet down lying on the elbow in the duct.
“I need a magnet, and five feet of string.”
“Oh, very well Keiran. I’ll go get one of each from the magnet and five feet of string drawer.”
“Ah!” He shook his head and left the room.
Mary Clare picked up the cummerbund, examined the fastening device, and prepared for the next battle after the cufflinks were done.
Keiran returned with his fishing contraption, ripped the vent off, and lowered the magnet down the hole. He pulled the cufflink back up, and placed it his sister’s palm.
“I would be honored if you would assist me, dear sister.”
I’m proud of you, brother,” Mary began, as she affixed the cufflinks. “She’s as beautiful as she is intelligent. You are lucky to be sure to have captured her heart.”
“Don’t dream I don’t think of that every day.”
Mary Clare finished her task and picked up the cummerbund. There was a knock at the door.
“Come on in.” Keiran lifted his arms to allow Mary to work, as the Science Officer Dabin Reece entered the room.
“Can I help ya, Commander?”
“Damn, I was hoping to walk in on Liis dressing. Wrong room.”
Mary Clare blushed. “Quite the company you keep.”
“Aye, Liis sure knows how to pick her friends. Don’t let ‘em fool ya, he’s a kitten underneath.”
“I’ll let you two be for a few minutes, no?”
Mary Clare stepped out, leaving Keiran alone with Reece.
“What can I do for ya, Mr. Reece?”
“Just take care of her.”
Dabin’s tone was deadly serious.
“Well, of course. I’m gonna devote the rest of my life to doin’ just that.”
“She never understands what people see in her. She doesn’t understand why Salvek and I are so loyal, she never understood what Jariel saw, and I know she doesn’t think she deserves you either. She doesn’t realize just how easy she is to love and just how much she means to the lives she touches. I hope you can make her understand what no one else ever seemed to be able to.”
Keiran remained silent. He barely knew Dabin Reece, but he knew Liis trusted him implicitly, and that when the man dropped the irreverent mannerisms, that he really had something important to say.
“I thought I had that girl all figured out, but she never ceases to surprise me, and I know from being surprised.” Dabin patted his belly, where Reece called home. “All I can ask is that you take care of her the way she deserves to be taken care of.”
“Aye, sir.” Keiran said, respecting Reece’s place as a long time Command officer that served with Zanh Liis.
“No need for the sir, I’m not your father. Or ‘Dah’ as it were.” Reece said, imitating the accent. Keiran slung his suit jacket on over his shirt as Reece spoke. “She knows you like no other, and I trust her to know what she wants.”
Dabin flipped Keiran’s wrists over to look at the cufflinks.
“SHTV?”
“Steady Hand to Victory, the family motto.” Keiran explained.
“From her no doubt?”
“Aye.”
“She’s good at that isn’t she? Those sentimental gifts that hit you right in the heart.” Dabin thought of everything from Rada’s toffees to the child that quite literally would not be under the care of Salvek and Kellyn were it not for Zanh Liis. “Easy to love but impossible to ever forget. You’re living proof of that I suppose.”
“I’d have done anything, lived any amount of lifetimes for this chance again.”
“Of course you would have.”
Dabin shook Keiran’s hand, and prepared to leave.
“Oh, one other thing, the Captain told me earlier you’re office is going to be set up across from Kellyn and my labs. Looks like we’ll be neighbors. Look forward to seeing you down there.”
“It will be my pleasure.”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
--------------------------
Keiran O’Sullivan*
Keiran O’Sullivan*
(*As told by Dabin Reece)
NRPG: Thank you... this post is a gift that means more to me than you'll ever know. ~ZL
NRPG: Thank you... this post is a gift that means more to me than you'll ever know. ~ZL