seaQuest DSV
Fic Title: The Dance (or {A} Home for Christmas)
Fic author: Paula (APB)
Fic rating: PG
Disclaimer: seaQuest is the property of Amblin Television and Universal Television and was created by Rockne S. O'Bannon. I don't own any of the people or characters who appeared on the show and I am not doing this for any monetary remuneration, but I would love to hear from readers. That is the only payment I desire or require. Thank you.Timeline placement: Takes place weeks after Triangles.
Summary: Learning the definition of Belonging and Family at Christmas time for Trey Barlow
Warnings: Trey Barlow is an OFC from several previous SQ stories. These stories can be found at WWOMB or the Ari Adler & Trey Barlow seaQuest Timeline.
WARNING!!!! DANGER WILL ROBINSON, this story has VERY HIGH SAP content, diabetics should consider this before ingesting <BEG>
Happy Holidays folks.............
The Dance or {A} Home for Christmas
10 Dec 2021
Tim stopped in the gym, not having had a chance to see Trey in the last week due to the differences in their schedules resulting from her assignment to Security a couple weeks prior. With the noise from her old boombox ricocheting all over the place and keeping pace with her exercise's it took her a long time to even notice him.
Greeting him with a big smile, dressed in only the crop top and shorts that were her preferred exercise outfit, she walked over to the corner where he was leaning. "Hey you, shouldn't you be a sleep? Not that I'm not pleased with the company, but I'm not worth loosing sleep over."
Blushing and rolling his eyes, Tim stammered from a rush of emotions and hormones with her approach. "Well, I hadn't, I mean, I've missed not seeing...... You know except for the morning, well morning for me, late night for you...."
Chuckling and putting her hand up, Trey stopped his barrage. "I swore that they said you could speak English in those 12 languages of yours."
Regaining his composure, the lieutenant answered her. "Maybe I should try French then? I have missed spending time with you and I thought that I could miss some sleep to talk to you."
"You should have told me, I could've asked Jim to leave the drills early, cause god knows I not enjoying them. I mean sitting at tach on the bridge, staring at these glorified video games listening to him all night...... I'm a talker and an observer not a shooter."
She finished this up with a grin, just pleased to see Tim with out the rest around. She liked Ari and Miguel, but where they were Lucas was and his overwhelming dislike of her was grating on her nerves. Tim seemed oblivious to this, just like the others were, but Trey had done every thing she could to make a connection with the young man, treating him as an adult, rather than the child that the others seemed to see him as. It had done no good though, he was bound and determined to dislike her and she had no idea why.
Seeing that he was taking a couple steps towards her, Trey warned him off with a quick, "You don't want to get closer, trust me, I offend myself."
"I roomed with Miguel for a while, trust me you smell better than him. I should let you finish before you cool off." Tim started to turn to leave, but before he got turned completely, she stopped him.
"No, stay........ I got thru most of it and I do it every night, I can miss a couple ..." After a brief pause, she continued, "um, hundred. I think I'm working out just to have something to do with me on this wacked rotation that Jim has me on."
Pointing to the floor, she sat down and he sat down fairly close to her, in spite of her warning and they spent the next hour just talking about the things in their lives they'd missed sharing in the two weeks since she'd had the meeting with the Captain and Jim Brody.
30 Nov 2021
Reaching over her shoulder for what seemed like the 4000th time and using baby words, Miguel pointed to the display labeled "Loner", indicating the satellite furthest from the boat. Trey could see that it was indicating a trail of diesel fuel, which combined with some noises that the long-range sensor array was picking, seemed to prove it came from the ancient sub that they suspected of running cattle to the wealthier domes, in violation of UEO directives.
"See that," he said cajolingly. "That's showing you....."
Holding on to the last of her temper, Trey turned her head toward him. In a voice dangerously soft, she said, "You know, I think I understood that the last 5 times you pointed it out."
From his seat in the front Comm position, Tim could clearly hear the warning tone in her voice, even though the words were too low to catch. He opened the channel to the upper sensor station and advised, "Trey, breathe. You don't want Ford coming down on you and ..."
"I know, but....." turning over her shoulder, "Tell him I'm not an idiot. Just because I'm not picking it up as fast as Ari, he thinks I'm Dagwood."
"Miguel, you heard her, cut her some slack, ok? Don't you have something else you could be doing right now? Working on Baby? Overhauling one of the other arrays? Something. Just let Trey try this by herself."
"Lt. O'Neill," Miguel answered formally, "Thank you for the advice but this is my ..."
"Mr. Ortiz. Is there some problem?" Commander Ford finally decided it was time that he take a hand in the altercation.
"Ah, no sir."
"I believe that you have this shift off, do you not?" the Commander continued.
Ari hid her face, torn between amusement and chagrin at the situation. She sympathized with both parties, knowing that Miguel could be an over-protective Cuban papa with his WSKR'S, but also remembering when she was new come and he'd hovered in just that way over her.
"Yes sir," Miguel answered, his face darkening with suppressed emotion.
"And didn't you ok Ensign Barlow for sensor watch duty?" Ford pressed on.
"Yes sir," he answered, "But..."
"Then I suggest that you leave her to do her job," Ford finished, turning away.
Tim tried to reassure him over the channel link, pointing out, "Ari's here, I'm here, Lucas is here. She'll be fine."
The Cuban sensor chief glanced over toward the other WSKR'S expert, but Ari still had her face turned away. Thwarted on all counts, he turned to leave the bridge, only Trey catching the muttered comment, "Yeah, **she'll** be fine, but what about my WSKR'S?"
Waiting till Ford had gone back to what he had been doing before taking official notice of the disagreement on his bridge, Trey pantomimed an exaggerated thank you to Tim, who returned a you're welcome with a big grin and wink, causing her to blush slightly and gnaw on her bottom lip like a 16 year old. Of course none of this got passed Ari, who, while never saying a word, missed none of any of the exchanges.
Things settled in to a quiet routine, with the newest ensign only asking for help once, with Tim being by her side immediately, earning a foul look from Lucas, which was happening more frequently these days when it came to the anthropologist till the Captain called Tim and asked to speak with Ford.
"Jonathan, is Ensign Barlow still on the bridge?"
Puzzled, the Commander answered, "Yes she is, at the WSKR station, soloing. Chief Ortiz has left to attend to other duties."
"Who else is there? Anyone who can take over? I need to see her in the ward room for a meeting."
There was something in the disembodied voice of Captain Bridger that was different. This wasn't his usual "I just want to talk to my crew" voice, there was something up.
Hearing this, Trey, Tim and Ari exchanged worried looks. Trey wondered if her hasty resignation offer during the Bonchance/Chaodai mess was coming back to haunt her, now that she was finally getting her bearings and enjoying herself. Enjoying herself as long as she didn't have a certain Cuban trying to help her and trying her patience.
"Lucas and Adler are both here sir." was the Commanders reply.
"Fine, your discretion, but send her down." Jonathan shuffled personnel around and sent Trey on her way to this mysterious meeting.
Knocking on the ward room door, getting an eerie sense of deja vu, Trey entered upon hearing the Captains voice. Surprised to find Lt. Brody and Dr. Smith also in the room, Trey felt doomed. This couldn't be good, if both medical and security were involved.
"Have a seat, Ensign." He caught sight of the expression on her face, "Relax, this isn't an execution."
Still nervous, Trey pulled out a chair and sat down, answering the Captain with, "If you say so sir, but what is it about?"
Nathan folded his hands in front of him, looking from Wendy to Jim. "Your place on seaQuest."
"My Place?? My quarters? I'm not very neat in personal spaces, sorry, but with all the stuff from..........."
Chuckling, Nathan interrupted, "No, not your quarters, though I have heard that your cabin is getting to the fire hazard stage with the amount of paper hardcopy you've been collecting. No, what I meant was, normally, we don't assign new officers permanent assignments till after a full boat rotation, but seeing as your background is so different from that of the rest of the crew..."
Interrupting him, Trey interjected, "You mean my technology is almost 30 years out of date and trying to catch me up is starting to wear on the rest of the senior personnel."
Shaking his head , Bridger reassured the young woman, who really was his contemporary, "No, Dr. Smith feels, as do I, that while you are doing an admirable job of learning the core duties, that you might feel more comfortable working you're way through the boat if you had an eye towards what specialty you were being placed in."
"I assumed that I'd be placed at communications, third shift, till my lack of languages is corrected."
Glancing over at Wendy, Nathan corrected this misconception. "No, that's why Lt. Brody is here. After some reflection, we realized that the quality of the data you collected, both intentional and unintentional, on Kavakava and your actions during the attack on the school showed a potential for security operations and perhaps hostage negotiations."
Trey sat there with her mouth wide open. For what security needed to be proficient in this time, the last place she would've ever seen herself placed was there.
"I'm confused. The lieutenant here seemed none to pleased with the societal information I brought back and now I'm to believe that he wants the dubious pleasure of taking the time to train me in everything that most officers in security are trained on in school? Why?"
The soft-spoken doctor joined the conversation at this point. "Trey, remember the conversation we had while you were in Med. Bay recovering from the injuries you received?
Bristling slightly, Trey responded with a slight frost to her tone "We had a bunch of talks, can you pin it down a bit?"
"When I asked you why anthropology and not sociology or psychology and you said that anthropology was a jack of all trades field. Well that's what security is, a bit of communications, a bit of sensors, some piloting.... just like anthropology."
"And I also said that I picked anthropology cause I was to lazy to learn the hard sciences. And my retraining at Grouton polished up the communications training I had before most of this crew was born, and ask Chief Ortiz about my skills at WSKRs. He finally left me to my own devices today, but very grudgingly. And piloting?"
Nathan cut her off, "Ensign, I know you have a lot to learn and I plan on giving you the time and the space to do both the necessary training and your work with Darwin and Adler."
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Trey commented, "Yes sir. I guess I've had my sleep in that cryo chamber."
Chuckling, the Captain patted her on her shoulder on his way out of the room.
"It sounds worse than it is, but you shouldn't be putting in much more crew time than anyone else. And somehow if you get too busy, I'll hear it from Darwin and that I don't want." Wendy rose to follow Nathan out, nodding to Brody. "I'll leave you to deal with this. Trey, I'd like to see you down at the Med. bay. I'd like to keep a running file on your blood work and that way we can talk."
"Umm yeah, I'll try and get down there soon. "
She'd picked up some of Ari's uneasiness about the Doc and after having dealt with all the psychiatrists that had been more interested in her cryodreams than the behaviors that lead her to be put in that situation in the first place, Trey had little use for any doctors. Wendy gave Trey a skeptical look but caught up with Nathan has he left the room.
After the Captain and Doctor left, Trey looked to her new line commander. "Now what? Just you and me, boss. You want to level with me on how they roped you in to this crackbrain scheme? We both know this has disaster written all over it."
Coming over from where he'd been perched during the previous discussions Jim sat down in front of Trey.
"I don't think so, and if nothing else it shouldn't be boring. Seriously, it's an experiment." Stopping and taking a deep breath, he changed gears from Lt. Brody to Jim. "And it's personal for me. I appreciated the time you took to talk to me after my mother went back in to the cryo chamber, considering everything you'd just been through. I know your experience was different and all but I'd like to think that someone would take the time with her if she needs help getting back in the stream of society. So I'm making myself one of those people with you."
"If this is a pity assignment, I don't want it," was Trey's slightly angry reply. " I want to make my own way this time. I'd rather go back to working in the hydroponics labs than think I'm being handed another free ride."
Getting a deadly serious look on his face, the officer was back. "No free rides here. I'm going to be running your ass ragged, Ensign. Don't doubt that. Your hand to hand skills are your best assets and that's not saying much. Your weaponry skills are non existent, you have no training in tactical, you already mentioned lack of seat time."
"I think I like the hydroponics idea better. OK, we try this, boss. But I just snapped at "Mr. happy go lucky" Ortiz, so just write up the insuborindation reports now, cause you'll need them."
Laughing, Jim got up to leave. "I have other ways of dealing with insubordination. You better go tell that overprotective bunch of yours what's going on before Adler comes crashing in here herself."
"She is something, isn't she?" Trey said following Jim out of the ward room.
Trey headed off to the mess where she knew that there were at least 4 anxious people awaiting news.
She headed right through the line rather than the table like usual, feeling that if she didn't, the barrage of questions would go on so long that she might not eat for two hours. Sitting in her usual seat between Tim and Lonnie, directly across from Ari, Trey waited for the barge, but was met with only wide eyes from them. "Calm down, I was just assigned to security as a trainee that's all."
"Wait a minute........ the Captain assigned you to Security? but I thought you were going in to communications," was the first comment after the initial shock passed and that came from Tim.
The second comment was hysterical laughter from Miguel. Indignantly Trey said "Hey, it's not that funny. Ari tell him it's not that funny."
Tim tapped her on her shoulder to get her attention back to him, "Hello, why security?"
"Well it appears to be a conspiracy. Believe it or not, Jim asked for my assignment to him and Wendy seconded it, feeling that with securities varying interests, I might not get as bored as if I was just doing one thing, one department."
"What does this mean to the study?" Ari asked cautiously
"Not a damn thing. Cap made sure Jim understood that minimal upsets are to be made to Darwin's routine. There will be some with ours though, I'll be on second shift when Jim is for the next few weeks, but we'll get through that. I'll just have my midnight snack when you guys are having breakfast." Fixing Miguel with a look, "And I'll still need to finish my bridge sensors training and then **someone** gets to teach me about the inner workings of the WSKRs down the line. Then I get to find time for, oh boy, piloting lessons." She pushed her half eaten dinner away and put her head down on the table, "My head hurts already."
Ari tried to help the older woman feel better about what she obviously felt was going to something beyond her abilities. "Look at it this way, a good deal of those are things we use with the study, so you'll be able to help with the maintenance of Baby.... that'll be good practice and........"
Looking up from where her head rested, Trey snapped, "And I'll be able to shoot any sharks who threaten Darwin." There were times that the little one's gung-ho attitude got on her nerves .... this was one of those times. Ari sat back a hurt expression in her eyes. On top of the argument with Miguel last night, this was too much.
Meanwhile, Lonnie had been looking from Tim to Trey with speculation in her eyes. "Funny thing this," she drawled. "But it puts the two of you out of the direct chain of command."
Tim's mood suddenly did a swing as Trey chuckled "Nothing gets past you does it. I'm thinking that Dr Wendy pushed the Captain into this, cause of this one." She punctuated the statement by stabbing a thumb wave in Tim's direction.
During this whole exchange, Miguel would start laughing again periodically. Till finally he had to put his 2 cents in " You know, its not often that someone can fall flat on their face in their first mission, not once but twice, and then be rewarded by being assigned to one of the premiere departments."
Finding something she could argue about and with someone she didn't have to walk on eggshells with, Trey let go.
"Ho, you have guts. Excuse me, but who else was with me that first time, Chief 'I know what I'm doing, just follow me' Ortiz. And the second time at least I had a chance and took out a few of their men. With minimal training, so Jim feels that ..........." faltering, Trey finished in a much quieter voice, "OK so he almost admitted it's a massive uphill battle, but he's willing to give it a trial. It doesn't work, I go back to the hydroponics lab and keep the seaweed company."
Noticing that Tim was falling asleep sitting against the gym wall, Trey gently nudged him back awake. "You better go get some sleep or you'll fall asleep in the water in the morning." Getting a mischievous look in her eyes, "But if you drown, I could give you mouth to mouth."
"Yeah, well......... that'd be good." Standing up, Tim walked over to her boombox and grunting with the unexpected weight of it. "This thing's heavy."
Outraged, cause it was still state of the art in her mind, Trey protested, "No it's not"
"Well compared to mine, it is. How old is this?"
"Older than you, so be nice to the old girl." Taking it from him, they started walking towards the gym door when Tim stooped them, and leaned in and gave her fast but heartfelt kiss. Walking again, they were silent till they both were in the maglev car.
Trey's mind was processing what had just happened, part of her terrified at the prospect of this, not having had a normal type boyfriend/girlfriend relationship since she was in early high school, with the other part just jumping up and down, for she had been afraid that her misstep upon returning from the slave ship had made him reluctant to take this mutual attraction between them further than the flirting level. But she was refusing to get her hopes up, this might have just been a momentary slip, what with Thanksgiving just having passed and the rest of the holidays looming ahead he might have just been in a festive mood.
While her would-be paramour was in shock that he'd even done this, it wasn't his style. Just suddenly kissing Trey, it just wasn't his style. He had done something similar with Ari back during the TSUNAMI trials, but this time it was a different woman and a different reaction ... well truthfully there seemed to be no reaction, which worried him even more. His attraction to Trey, both physically and spiritually, had become something he couldn't suppress any longer. So he'd taken his shot, for better or worse, he'd craved contact with Trey. Now he feared he'd made a misstep himself. So Tim had remained quiet during their walk to the maglev car.
But it was Trey who eventually broke the silence "That was nice. But I thought we were doing the friendship thing first. Not that I mind, but it's your call."
Looking at her, his brown eyes soft with his growing affection for the old young ensign. "Yeah, well, I didn't realize how ........ much beyond that I'd moved till the last few days never having anytime with you, I just, well, you know."
"I know......I missed you too. But we move at your pace, I promise." Kissing the side of his face, "I'm off here, I'll see you at breakfast, OK? Sweet dreams."
Grinning his usual bashful grin, Tim bid her goodnight with, "Hopefully of you, I'll see you later."
11 Dec 2021
"OK you called this meeting Tim, what's up?" Lonnie asked when the four members of the Usual Suspects who were off duty got together.
"When Ari and I were at Bonchance we talked about getting Trey a 'welcome to the group' present of a new boombox and some disks. Then everything happened and we never got it. What I thought is that we could as a group, maybe, still do this as a Christmas present. Have any of you tried carrying that old stereo of hers? I picked it up last night and was shocked at the weight of it. I'm willing.........."
Ari stopped him in mid-rant, "TIM, give us a chance to say something. I'm in, you know that." a chorus of Me Too's from Lonnie and Miguel followed her "and I wanted to get something to brighten up her quarters, something silly, like a couple stuffed animals." She gave him a hard stare, examining his face closely and asked suspiciously, "Are you planning on getting her something else, as well?"
Fidgeting in his chair, not really comfortable with this public airing of his private life, her steady regard forced the answer out of him. "Yes. Well I picked out 2 things, but one I'm not sure isn't to.........not sure we're on the same page right now. So I'll get it and decide at the last minute what I want to do."
"What'd you pick out Tim? Something sexy?" Lonnie asked, just to watch her friend blush.
"NO, that I know she'd go for. Sentimental I'm not sure of."
Miguel felt he needed to add something to bolster his friends confidence. "If its from you, it'll make her happy." He didn't want to betray confidences but he knew the mental balancing act that Trey was engaged in, walking the fine line between wanting to make his old friend happy while desperately not wanting to fall in to her old patterns with men. He added, "She'll cherish anything you give her."
Looking at his oldest friend on the boat, Tim debated with himself about how much to reveal. Trey had told him a great deal about her earlier life while recovering from a bad drug interaction combined with a mild concussion, and her attempt to seduce him after they'd returned to the boat informed him of even more.
But none of that was his secret to tell. Uncomfortably and saddened by the thought of what she'd been through, he replied, "I don't think she knows how to accept gifts without feeling obligated, so I don't want her to know we're doing anything for Christmas. Has anyone found out what religion she was raised in?"
Ari spoke up. "She wasn't. I was talking about, well, about talking to a priest, how it always seems to help when I've got a problem, and I asked her, just out of curiosity. She said that beyond being baptized Methodist she has no faith system."
Lonnie was determined to weasel what Tim was unsure of with Trey so she tried a different tact. "Tim, what's the thing you're not sure of. I mean we need to know so we don't duplicate it."
"Trust me, its nothing you'd get her."
So far from putting Lonnie off, this made her even more curious and she turned up the heat, putting her arm around his shoulder and pouting up at him. Ari turned away, feeling a twinge of curiosity, but willing to respect someone else's secrets. Unfortunately, that brought Chief Ortiz into her field of vision. Sighing, she closed her eyes and put her forehead onto her hand.
Lonnie's attentions were making Tim feel increasingly uncomfortable. There had been an attraction between them from the first, and it wasn't entirely gone. And Ari's pained expression made him feel guilty.
"Miguel," he pleaded. "Make them stop."
The sensor chief was gazing sadly at the little ensign. Shaking his head ruefully, the he replied, "Like I have any control over either of them. My suggestion is to tell them or your life will be miserable for the time till Christmas."
Looking downcast, knowing they were going to make fun of him. "OK, I saw this Christmas ornament. So I was gong to get her that with a stand and bell jar to put over it as a display. That's all."
Henderson nagged even more information out of him with, "And the ornament is?"
Groaning, Tim challenged, "You're not going to give up are you?"
Her sweet voice answered "No"
"It's two cats curled up in front of a fire place, with two stockings on the mantle with you and me on them and the base says our first Christmas together. BUT I mean, we're really not together and she might think I'm presuming." Tim stopped and let out a sigh.
Miguel jumped in, adding his practical knowledge to the ideas floating about. "That's sweet, she'll love it. So are we going to get her some discs to play on this. I can get her a couple new ones and some blanks for her to start putting her old stuff on."
Ari had an idea at this point. "Why don't Tim and I get the stereo and you two get her some discs and we can still say its from all of us."
"But you two will be spending more, Ari. It'd be easier on all our pays if we split it four ways rather than you two just doing this." came from Ortiz.
"Well Tim makes more than us and," looking over at her first human friend on the sub with a small smile on her face, "he has more of an emotional stake in this than we do and I, umm, I don't spend a lot that I don't have to, unlike two people here who support a certain seaman with their paychecks every month."
The comment had a dry point to it and Miguel's face darkened. Ari dropped her eyes, and continued quietly, "Besides, who else do I have that I need to buy presents for, except my crewmates?" Shrugging off the mood, she looked up again, avoiding the non-com's attempts to catch her attention. "This will give Tim extra for other things."
Thwarted in his efforts to offer comfort and recognizing the stubborn tone in her voice, Miguel surrendered gracefully.
"Ok, but let me pick out the discs we're getting her. She's been playing with my unit and music so I have an idea what she's into of the newer music. That suit, oh wise one?"
Tim finally heard the suppressed emotion behind the way the two of them were talking, and not talking. Afraid that the point of the meeting might get lost in their petty personal differences, he repeated, "I wasn't getting her anything else but that and the ornament and one little thing, I'm afraid of overwhelming her. Lets face it, her family wasn't exactly Norman Rockwell like, so holidays might be a sink hole for her." Tim looked up, his eyes distressed, "If you had seen how she reacted in the slavers hold when I asked about her childhood. There's no good memories there."
Kneeling in front of where Tim sat, Ari tried comforting her friend. "So we start this year making good memories. See what we can find with the stuffed animals, maybe a dolphin and of course a good old bear."
"Yeah, either a Pooh Bear or maybe Paddington. And how bout a body pillow, something she can cuddle" Lonnie added finally finding something she could add. "Unless Tim wants to volunteer for that," she added archly, grinning smugly at the full blown blush that spread over the tall lieutenant's face.
Ari stood up, drawing their attention from the deeply embarrassed officer and looking at the three of them with a look of finality on her face. "OK, so this is all settled, right?" She looked at Lonnie while addressing both her and Miguel. "If you two can have the list of disks you want ordered, I can send the whole thing in and we can have it delivered by the next mail call. pick it up when we stop at that dome in a couple day. Make it one order and we only have to pay one set of shipping costs?"
They spent the rest of the evening just talking till Tim started getting antsy around the time that 2nd shift had their dinner break, but as he was getting ready to go see if Trey was at the galley, a head popped in the open doorway. "Hey who called a meeting without me?"
"Shouldn't you be eating?" a worried Tim asked.
Trey walked over and sat on the floor beside Ari's desk where Tim was sitting, casually putting her hand on his leg. An act that didn't get past the notice of the room owner. "Well, yes and no, it's break time, but if I eat now, then after shift and then with you guys in the morning.......and my breakfast, then I have 4 meals and that's too much. So I thought, since Darwin's been in and out of the bridge, driving Jim crazy talking to me, you guys had to be either here or at the OD lounge and here was first."
Looking around at the others faces "Did I interrupt something?" which was met with a resounding chorus of "NO, of course not" 's. "You guys are acting funny. "
Leaning over and whispering in her ear, Tim said "You're just paranoid cause I'm in here with two other women and you can't keep an eye on me."
"Think highly of yourself don't you, O'Neill. Maybe I came to see Ortiz, not you." Seeing the stricken look on his face and an unintentional eye dart from Ari between Trey and Miguel, Trey got to her knees and hugged him, leaning in to him. "I'm kidding......... poor Tim. Doesn't deserve to have to put up with me."
Ari caught Tim's eye's a few minutes later, while Trey was leaning against Tim's leg and listening to Lonnie prattle on about something and she shrugged, indicating *she looks happy where she is*. His hand hovering just above her head, he smiled down sweetly and nodded back, his answer as clear as anything *as happy as I feel I hope.* He nodded toward Miguel, only pretending to follow the prattle between the two women, asking with his eyes, *what about you and ...* Ari shrugged uncomfortably and curled up on her bed, tracing circles on the spread, refusing to answer the question unasked.
14 Dec 2021
Before the order for the gang's Christmas stuff was placed, Lonnie almost blew it for them. She was getting tired of sitting on the bare floor in Ari's quarters and had an idea,: she and Trey (the other usual floor sitter) could buy Ari floor pillows for Christmas........ selfish yes, but needed.
Remembering that Tim commented that Trey usually worked out after her shift when she was on second, Lonnie waited at the gym for her and ran the idea past her. And almost blew Tim's 'we don't tell her we're doing Christmas presents' edict.
"I asked Tim if you guys were doing Christmas presents and he said no," the older ensign said.
Backpedaling fast Lonnie covered her slip with, "Oh we're not, this is just a joke, you know, presents from us to her that are really for us."
"How are we going to get them? I mean there's no mall on the boat, Lonnie."
"We can pick things up in a few days, preordered at that scheduled stop we have. SOOO, what color do you want? Think I want purple, or maybe green."
Still wary, Trey went along with the idea. "Ok, you're sure she won't get upset."
"I'm sure, Trey. Come on! Color?"
Surrendering to the young woman's enthusiasm, "OK, see if they have scarlet or a dark red....... if not black."
Lonnie's response to this was to pout and object. "No, those are dark..... I'll see if there's a bright red."
Trey laughed at the other woman's quick change of her color choices and wondered if Lonnie ever lost her enthusiasm for life. "Why did you ask me if you were going to over ride my choices?" she teased.
"Not overriding them, just brightening them." Stopping to look her friend over from head to toe, Lonnie then pointed up and down in the path her eyes had just taken, "Next thing is your wardrobe off duty, get you out of those discarded uniform bits and into something nicer."
Heading off to do her workout, Trey left Lonnie saying easily, "Just let me know what I owe you, OK?"
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