A Tale of Two Women

Posted on Fri Jul 2nd, 2021 @ 4:55am by Commander Grace Vetur & Captain Elijah Michaels

987 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Lonesome Road
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: Immediately after "Confessions"

ON

Grace was too distraught to work. She needed to talk to Elijah and she needed answers. She tapped her combadge. "Computer, where is Captain Michaels?"

"Captain Michaels is in his ready room," the computer intoned.

That meant she had to go on the bridge, but she had been a diplomat and she knew how to remain outwardly calm. She even managed a polite nod to the officer on duty before going to Elijah's office and ringing the chime.

“Come in.” Elijah said looking at the door to his ready room. A momentary reprieve from his admin work.

She walked in and let the door close before dropping her facade. "Elijah? I just spoke with Amanda and I...need some answers."

“What’s the matter?” He asked her as he walked round to meet her face to face.

"When I told you what Amanda said about you two flirting with each other, and you said there was nothing there, I thought the matter was settled. But...she told me that you had several encounters where you made it known that you were interested in her and...you asked her to dinner, but never followed through with the invitation."

“Those are all correct.” He said to her being honest about her comments. “I did ask her to Dinner but the reality is I got cold feet.” He said to Grace. “I knew she liked Yiv a little bit after that, I didn’t want to come between anything and so I decided to not do anything.”

He looked at Grace and placed his hands inside hers as he leant on his desk. “But in the midst of all this I found myself drawn to you, your beauty, your personality and then we arrived at Dreadex and the more time I didn’t with you the more I realised….I want to be with you.”

It made sense. "I just..." She paused. "I didn't know if you still had feelings for her. I was afraid that if I hadn't said yes to dinner invitation you would have asked Amanda and we wouldn't be having this conversation." She hadn't meant to tell him that, but she didn't regret it. "And she feels that I betrayed her by falling in love with you."

He cupped her chin, looking into her eyes. “Grace……” He kissed her lips softly. “I’ve fallen in love with you, too.”

She hugged him, burying her face in his shoulder. She had no words.

He held her close to him and didn’t say a word. He just held her tightly.

For a long while she said nothing. She held Elijah, allowing his embrace to slowly lessen her aching heart.

Amanda... She knew her news would hurt her friend--had hurt her friend. She would likely never trust Grace again. On the one hand, she couldn't blame her. She had two men she liked and thought liked her, only to find that her friend had taken one of them way. But it hadn't been quite like that. Or it had, but it hadn't been intentional. Most of the time, affection was not reciprocated. And when it was, half the time it didn't work out. She wasn't sure if she and Elijah would work out, but she wanted it to. She'd try, anyway. And she hoped that, in time, Amanda would understand and forgive her.

Slowly Grace stepped back a bit from Elijah--just enough to see his face. "Thank you. I...didn't know what to do. What to think." What to feel.

“I can understand that.” He said softly to her. “Coming to me was the right thing to do.” A small smile across his face.

"I hope so. I worry about Amanda," she said. And she worried about what she and Elijah were going to end up doing to her, even if it wasn't intentional.

“All that you can do is be her friend, reassure her and support her in whatever way you can.” He said trying to provide reason to the situation as best as he could.

She nodded. He was right. It was that, or walk away from what she felt for Elijah. But even if she did, she doubted he would ask Amanda out again. She sighed. She didn't like being the cause of Amanda's distress.

She looked up at him, still finding it hard to believe that he loved her. Her reputation as a coldblooded workaholic was well-established. "Why me?" she asked.

"Because you see things in a way nobody ever does before. You and I are connected." He smiled softly to her.

She shook her head. "There are many people who think the way I do. However," she kissed him. "I like being connected to you."

"The feeling is mutual Grace." He replied softly to her.

She put a hand on his cheek and smiled. "thank you for understanding. This is going to be...complicated." She chuckled. "This is already complicated." She sighed. "At least we have time to hopefully sort this out. I don't want to lose a friend, and I don't want to lose you."

"Whatever way this takes we will explore it together." Elijah said as he placed his hand on hers. "Like real explorers."

"Yes." She smiled again. "And now, I should walk the ship a bit before taking care of paperwork. Thank you, Elijah."

"I've got a few reports to submit for Admiral Baxter." Elijah responded to her. "But I'll catch you later hopefully."

"Hopefully." She smiled again before leaving. She was still concerned about Amanda, and knew this would not be easy, but at least she and Elijah were on the same page.

And with that Elijah gave her one final smile as they both went about their duties. As the two senior most officers on this ship they still responsibilities.

____
OFF

Captain Elijah Michaels
Commanding Officer
USS Ontario

Lieutenant Commander Grace Vetur
Executive Officer
USS Ontario

 

RSS Feed