by Jariel Camen
90107.23
Hours after All Along
-=USS Alchemy, currently on Bajor=-
He slept.
He did not dream and he did not move. He simply slept, deep and full, like he never had before.
When he awoke, his hands sought her out. She was right there, exactly where she had been when exhaustion finally overcame him in the early morning hours. She was already awake, and a smile greeted him as he turned to her, with a warmth and brightness that would make even the Bajoran sun envious.
The small quarters and bed on the Alchemy were strictly utilitarian and nature, geared only towards functionality. This morning however, they felt like the largest palace in the land and the safest place in the galaxy. They felt like home.
“Did you sleep, my flower?” He asked.
“I was determined to stay up all night to watch you sleep but,” Fleur blushed, “I slept. I cannot imagine why I was so tired. But I have been watching over you for the last hour or so.”
Fleur neglected to mention that, besides watching him, she had been committing every square millimeter of his face to her memory. She had never been this close to him for this long, and she wanted to remember this look on his face forever. The look of fulfillment from love, her love.
Somehow she had won his heart, and she did not care right now how or why.
“You’ve been there watching over me much longer than that,” Camen said. She rolled into his arms, and he enclosed her in his warmth. The scent of her hair filled his senses, and he wondered how he had gone so long in his life without it. “I love you,” he whispered to her, more for himself to hear than her. The words sounded so wonderful as they were breathed from his lips.
“And I adore you.”
He held her close, and time slipped by unnoticed.
“You must be hungry,” he said finally, realizing that he had never been as famished as he was right now.
“Starving,” she answered emphatically, herself realizing that the last meal she had taken had been more than twelve hours ago. “I swear I could eat a Dabin Reece sugar cookie, I am so hungry.”
“Would you like me to bring you something from the dining hall?”
“Perhaps someday I will let you bring me a meal, my Camen, but right now, I would like to be beside you.”
Camen grinned and kissed her forehead before rummaging around the room to gather up his clothing.
-=/\=-
He did not wish to waste a single moment when he could be holding her, so he took her by the hand.
As they walked into the dining hall, they caught Dane Cristiane by surprise, and he caught them by surprise as well.
“Sorry, I’ll go,” Dane quickly picked up his coffee and headed for the exit. He had only stopped by for just a moment to grab a hot drink from the replicator to supplement what the keepers of the orphanage called coffee. He had figured he would not run into Fleur and Camen if he only spent five minutes on the ship.
Micah, Lance and Azalea were still enjoying the hospitality of the Bajorans and were content to leave the Alchemy to Jariel and Le Marc until couple decided to emerge from the ship.
“It’s all right Dane, you can stay,” Camen had no intention of routing anyone who belonged on the ship off of it. Dane, determined to not be rude, sat back down and cast his eyes into his coffee, as if he were studying the swirls of bubbles on the surface for some sort of hidden meaning.
Fleur and Camen each put in an order at the replicator, their eyes larger than their stomachs as they requested one of just about everything in the data banks.
To Dane's chagrin, Fleur and Camen chose the seat directly across from him, rather than one of the empty tables.
“Good morning,” Camen said with a smile. He poured a glass of orange juice from a pitcher and twirled a strip of bacon over his fork.
Fleur drizzled syrup over a stack of pancakes so tall it threatened to topple over when she cut into them.
“Did you sleep well?” Dane asked, before cursing himself for asking it.
“I do not remember a moment of sleeping, so yes, I slept well,” Jariel replied.
“You know, Vedek Jariel,” Dane began, hoping a serious question would be less awkward than small talk. “I’ve been wondering what will happen here to that young girl I met, Milea.”
Camen paused a moment, to swallow his food, as Fleur grinned and answered Dane, “She likes the young Starfleet officer, yes?”
“No,” Dane said flatly.
“I can’t tell you honestly if anyone will adopt her at her age. I can tell you though that she is smart, and she is coming around to understand that men like Timal are her greatest asset, not her enemy. I’d like her to have a good stable father figure to guide her, but I have no doubt that when she is of age, she will go to University and from there to a successful career. She need only trust those around her.”
Dane took a sip of his coffee, and waited for Jariel to continue.
“You both have much in common, actually,” Camen added.
“I know,” Dane replied quickly, a look of sadness on his face. He stared off at some indeterminate point between Camen and Fleur.
“I wonder, Monsieur Cristiane, how much concern there is for your own future?” Fleur had seen a lot of faces come through her doors over the years and knew the look of a man with a lot on his mind. Despite the look of concern he had, it was a refreshing change from the perpetual expression of disdain he had once worn everywhere he went.
“It’s nothing,” He said, dismissing her question.
“Ah, then it is something,” Fleur prodded.
“Dane,” Jariel began, “You have only just recently stopped your journey down a very dark path. You’ve seen the error of your ways and brought yourself from misfit to respected officer amongst your peers. I can tell just by the way the others are around you that they trust you now.”
Camen, like his shipmates, never turned their backs on Dane Cristiane when he first came aboard the Sera. That however was a different time, and a different Dane. There was little doubt the man had changed for the better.
“But it is not enough to simply stop the wrong course. You have the opportunity to walk the path of your choosing to improve Dane Cristiane and the work he has already done. Have you considered where you will go from here?” Camen took another bite of his food, expecting Dane to ponder the query from a moment, but to his surprise Dane answered immediately.
“I’m going to pursue a post in Temporal Investigations.”
Camen held the fork in his mouth, as he felt the same twinge of nervousness he had felt when young Gillan Pace had told him of his plans to join the religious orders on Bajor. He knew all too well the ravages TI could take not just on the men and women in their employ, but on those they cared for as well.
Fleur sensed Jariel’s unease and spoke on his behalf. “Are you sure that is what you choose? It is a difficult life.”
Dane nodded, “Very sure.”
Camen set his fork down, and placed his elbows on the table. “I can tell you this, Dane. You know how they function, how they take advantage of people. They can only make this system work by depending on their operatives not knowing how they function. If this is the path you choose, you have a great resource in Zanh Liis and Keiran O’Sullivan. Listen to them, and heed their warnings.”
Camen could only hope Dane would not fall into the same trap that TI laid for all the weary souls that passed through their doors. He worried for Dane, but knew it was his right to choose that course if he wished. Camen would have worried even more had he known of the existence and history of one Gira Lassiter.
Dane deftly switched the subject to the topic of the Plains, and what Camen and Fleur had done to fill their time since arriving on Bajor. Before long the computer signaled an incoming message, which Dane read on the terminal.
“We’ve been recalled,” He said solemnly. “I’ll have to inform the others.” Dane said, preparing to leave the dining hall. He stopped, realizing he was not sure exactly who to take with him. “I guess I’ll need to know if you are coming or not.”
“Tress,” Fleur and Camen both said immediately.
“Now is not the time, there is much left to do here,” Camen continued, addressing Dane.
“Do you have any messages for me to take back to the Serendipity?”
“Tell everyone, we,” Camen emphasized the word by gripping Fleur’s hand in his, and raising them both to Dane, “Are well.”
The couple hurried back to their room on the Alchemy to gather up what items they needed before the ship departed.
“What of the fever?” Fleur asked. “Did the Doctors not want to look into the vaccines?”
“That’s what I need to find out,” Camen said, slinging a duffel with their belongings over his shoulder. They hurried down the ramp just as Dane, Adams, Hartcort and Samson were about to head up it.
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Jariel Camen
Currently on Bajor
Jariel Camen
Currently on Bajor