Heart and Soul

Posted on Sat Jun 26th, 2021 @ 12:18pm by Commander Grace Vetur & Captain Elijah Michaels

1,466 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: The Lonesome Road
Location: Gym

ON

It had been several days, but that dinner with Elijah still haunted her. Twice she woke up feeling so empty that she asked the computer where Elijah was. But she couldn’t bring herself to actually call him. Once she’d walked to his quarters instead of hers. Fortunately, no one was around to notice. More often, she’d dream about ringing the chime to his quarters only to have Amanda or another woman answer.

She began to work late, driving herself until she was too tired to dream. That helped a bit, but she needed to exorcise her demon. Or exercise it. That gave her an idea. She checked to find out when the gym was usually empty and decided to work out her problem—literally.

Grace wore a simple unitard that left her legs bare and her arms covered. She wrapped a skirt around her waist and headed for the gym. It was blissfully empty. “Computer, play warm-up music, Earth, 20th Century.”

Orchestral music began to play. Her warm-up routine was so familiar she didn’t have to think much, just relax and let the music flow through her. Thirty minutes later, she felt more relaxed and ready to exercise her demons. Or her one demon.

“Play Vetur Dance Music,” she said, making sure her skirt and towel were off to the side before she went to the center of the mat.

The first piece was fast with a strong beat. She moved across the floor, pouring her frustration at herself into the music. She had no right to fall for someone her friend was also interested in. The fact that Amanda also liked Yiv—and he her—was irrelevant. It violated one of her personal codes. She jumped, flipped, rolled, spun and bent with the music, letting it flow through her into her movements.

The next number was slower and melancholier. She let go of her thoughts and danced, expressing her feelings of loss and emptiness through her movements. Lyrical Jazz was perfect for that as it often incorporated improvisational dance. At least if you weren’t performing with anyone. It felt good to let her feelings out this way. It was cathartic.

The next song was light and cheerful. Her movements were more open, more joyful. There were several more songs, transitioning from an angry he done her wrong song to a ballad, to a peppy song about friends. She moved from one song to the next, thinking only of the words and music. Then came a love song. She didn’t think to change it, she just transitioned into the slower music, putting her heart and soul into expressing through movement the story of two people falling in love.

She wasn’t aware of the door opening. Of someone coming in. All her concentration was on the expression, her body and her movements an extension of the song. And then it came to an end. She held her final position for a Lon moment before she registered that someone else was there with her.

She knew who it was before she stood and turned to face Elijah.

“You’ve been avoiding me….” Elijah said to her as he watched her dance her way round the Gym. He should have said something but he didn’t. He just watched her hypnotic movements and stared, mesmerised.

"I needed to do some thinking," she admitted, the emotions she'd been feeling during the dance making her feel raw and exposed.

Elijah nodded. “Grace, you and I need to talk about this.” He said to her, they’ve communicated of course, duty rosters, results of recent surveys and studies. “And I don’t mean sensor readings or the results of a lab experiment.” He approached her and looked at her softly with real emotion on his face.

"I..." The expression on his face made her tongue-tied. She took a deep breath. "Yes. We need to...talk."

“Grace, I like you.” He said to her. “ I like you a lot and I want to see where this goes.”

"I..." She was trembling from the emotions she'd kept under tight control until now. "I like you, too. I can't stop thinking about that dinner. But I didn't want to hurt Amanda. She likes you, even though, she also likes Yiv..." She shook her head.

Elijah nodded as he then pulled Grace close to his chest. “I understand that but I know what I want….” His eyes looking into hers with real emotion to them.

She put her hands on his shoulders for balance--at least that's what she told herself. Her gaze was fixed on his, wanting to believe the promise in his eyes.

"I want you......" He said softly to her, a sincere tone to his voice and it was more heartfelt than before. He knew it wasn't an easy thing to directly translate to her.

She caressed his cheek with one hand. "Elijah..." Yes, please? She almost said the words, but stopped herself. "I want you, too. But I don't want to rush into this. I want to be sure it's more than physical."

He nodded. "I want that too Grace." He commented to her as he smiled at her softly. "I want to do this right, properly and I want us to work it all out."

She smiled, finally feeling the stress of the past few days ease. "So do I. Very much. So, how do you want to start?"

Elijah softly stroked her face. "Any ideas?" He asked Grace looking at the Gym. "Should i let you finish up your gym session first?"

"I was...working out some emotions, but I think you took care of that. I could continue, if you want to stay, or we could go somewhere."

Elijah was dressed rather informally. "Computer initiate audio program Michaels 12 Gamma 6." And then he walked into the central part of the gymnasium. "Care to dance Commander?" He asked as he offered her his hand and some old-style music began to play.

She scooped up her skirt and tied it around her waist. "It would be my pleasure," she said, joining him.

A slow dance, akin to a waltz or an American smooth style. The two of them hand in hand in the middle of the Ontario Gym.

Grace slipped into the proper ballroom stance, her left hand on his shoulder and her right hand in his. It felt right to be back in his arms. They fit together well. That their first dance was a waltz was perfect. Even the happy butterflies in her stomach were flitting in time to the music. It was a good beginning. For the first time in days, she was hopeful.

His eyes focused on his partner as they glided round the gymnasium, the two in perfect synchronisation.

First they were playing strings together and now they were dancing. Two of Grace's favorite hobbies would now remind her of Elijah. The music ended, but neither was willing to be the first to break away.

Their breathing was shallow, the two locked into place as they stopped with the music. "You've got good moves."

She chuckled softly. "So do you."

"Does this count as a first or second date?" Elijah asked her as the Captain caught his breath.

"I considered the last dinner another building-a-working-relationship evening. This is a dance. Neither counts as a date. Although I should add that the waltz was considered quite scandalous when it was first introduced in the 1800s on Earth."

"Ahh well we've come a long way since then." He smiled softly at her.

"Yes, we have." Her tone made it clear she was talking about more than the waltz.

"So shall we save the next dance for another time?" He smiled politely at her.

"I'd like that." Grace smiled back. She kissed him on the cheek and stepped away to retrieved her towel. "I'll leave you to your workout." She was more lighthearted than when she entered, but she still needed time. Time for what they both felt to develop and time to see where it went. Although she was pretty sure about her own feelings, New Islandicans were not known for jumping into relationships. She only hoped he would give her that time.

“Don’t forget Ensign E‘treat just had another litter we said we’d go and name two or three.” He smiled before he began his workout. “See you later.”

Grace turned and smiled. "Yes. We'll definitelyl do that." She'd even see about adopting one.

Elijah smiled once more as he waved goodbye to Grace and watched her leave. The two of them finally on the same page once more.

____
OFF

Lieutenant Commander Grace Vetur
Executive Officer
USS Ontario

And

Captain Elijah Michaels
Commanding Officer
USS Ontario

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