Catching Up with Just a Friend

Posted on Saturday, 6 June 2020 - 1:12pm by Lieutenant JG Maximus Mackenzie & Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt

Mission: Operation: Iktomi
Location: USS Standing Bear | Mess Hall
Timeline: 2393

{ON}

Since being on board, Adrianna hadn't had much contact with those she had met in the days prior. There was one person that had been on her mind though. Last time they had spoken, there seemed to be sadness in the air. She hit her command badge to speak with him, "fancy a drink, dinner or beating the crap out of someone tonight?"

Max smiled as he answered the com badge. "Dinner is good. I'll meet you in the mess in one hour?"

Adrianna looked to a clock, "sounds like a plan."


***********

Adrianna was in uniform, which oddly suited her, and looked about. The mess hall wasn't busy, seemed that most people enjoyed their own cooking instead. There was a soft murmur of conversation. There weren't many people but of those there, none were Mac. She headed over to a spare table with two chairs.

Maximus walked in a bit late. He had been surprised by a few things in the TAC/SEC office. He spied Adrianna at a table. He hurried over. "Sorry I was getting a few things sorted in the department."

"It's alright," she smiled then teased, "I tend to give it twenty minutes before considering braking kneecaps."

He laughed. "Excellent I was only 19 minutes late...although I might decide to try you on that 20 minute rule." He winked.

Adrianna couldn't help but giggle, "I wouldn't test me. But good luck to you." She waved over a waiter, "I am starving. Not 'first meeting you' starving, but I could eat."

"I had not eaten in a long time. I thought it best to make up for it." He ordered a deli sandwich and some fruit.

Adrianna ordered a large chicken and sun-dried tomato pasta salad with extra oil, but to hold the yellow peppers, she only wanted red ones. Once the waiter left she looked back to Mac," you certainly made up for it that day."

He smiled. "Yeah it was...a rough day."

"That's why I invited you to dinner," she shrugged, "on the two occasions we've met, the one you looked 'well travelled' and the other you weren't in a great place, enough so that you were sharing my grappa, straight from the bottle. I wanted to make sure you were ok, first and foremost."

He shrugged. "She died just before we boarded." He said. He hadn't told anyone. "The surgery didn't go well."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she replied genuinely, before digging into a satchel she'd brought with her. Adrianna pulled out her signature bottle of grappa, only a small one, "I guess, this would be a celebration of her life gift then."

His eyes misted over slightly. It took a moment for him to find his voice. "Thank you." He turned over two classes that were a common staple at the table. "I haven't stopped to think about it since I got onboard. First with a friend issue and then my ... new Roommate who is stuck on go for a mile a minute."

"My roommate is still non existent if it gets too much," she replied, "must be an odd number of crew. I'm a good listener, and in my culture we celebrate life not mourn death."

"Yeah...maybe I could use a break tonight."

"Up to you, the beds there if you want it," Adrianna shrugged.

He studied her. "How have you been settling in?"

"Difficult to say," Adrianna replied, "I've been busy with work. That's a good thing for me. Helps me sleep and helps shut my mind up from working overtime. All things considered, what about you? Minus the roommate fiasco."

"Busy. The previous investigations officer left a lot to be desired. Also We are without a department head still so everyone is taking turns which can be good and bad." He took a sip of the grappa. "It is a small ship."

"You'll be fine," Adrianna offered before teasing in her usual dark humour, "you seem hard enough to whip people back into gear without much trouble. Preferably with only a trip to med-bay and not the morgue mind."

He laughed. He studied her again. "You and I are a lot alike."

"If that's the case, then I feel sorry for you," Adrianna teased, "perhaps you can be the one to tell the XO that people like us don't need a matchmaker, we need grappa and a punch bag."

He laughed. "Yeah Soral...he's always been different. I must say though...this new Don Juan version is bit unsettling. He was the last one to tote matchmaking."

"Thanks to a slip of the tongue, we have a potential wager. So some poor man is going to fall victim," she chuckled, "I feel sorry for him already."

He studied her. "Why do you do that?"

Her laughter faded, "do what?"

"Speak about yourself that way as if you would be a burden to someone; as if you do not deserve happiness?"

Adrianna considered the question. She'd been doing it for so long it didn't register. It had become habit. "I umm," she didn't know how to answer. Her vocabulary had been reduced, "habit I guess. Learned behaviour."

"From who?"

She shifted uncomfortably, "consider it experience and one of the millions of reasons why I'm single. If you are told something enough, and if you continue to have the same outcome to experience, you have to make the assumption something is wrong with you." Adrianna sighed. She hadn't lied, by any stretch. Her answer was honest. Her eyes flicked to someone approaching and was somewhat glad of the distraction of food being brought to them.

He waited until the food was down and the waiter had left. "It's not true you know. You are an intelligent, beautiful woman and when you choose a mate he'll be lucky."

She smiled with a slight blush flashing over her cheeks, "you don't know me that well, but I appreciate the sentiment. What about you?" Adrianna paused and then rephrased, "I mean, your love life. I'm sure Soral could use his new found powers to help you stop being the guy that sees but does not act upon."

He laughed. "Yeah Soral's to smart to try that with me. Besides Starship Captains are married to their work and I plan to be a captain some day."

"Even cap-ee-tans fall in love or have fun," Adrianna smirked, "you don't have to follow the stereotype. What if you did find your 'mate'?"

He shrugged. "Hasn't happened so far. I live in the now." He looked at her. "So can I ask you something? Why Starfleet?"

"Doesn't mean it won't but I'll be sure not to continue trying that door. Odd transition," Adrianna commented, "Starfleet offered me a lifeline when my options were grossly reduced. You?"

"My adoptive parents were both Starfleet. When I came into their house I learned about the organization, about the great Captains and it seemed logical."

Adrianna nodded, "Hope it works out for you." The woman continued eating, a question mulling in her mind since he had glazed over one of her comments. If a door was shut, she wanted to know, but it was a debate of 'how to phrase it' in a way that firstly didn't make her look desperate, and secondly not make him mad.

He studied her a moment. "You look like you have something on your mind." He was a trained TACT/SEC officer. He knew when someone had something on their mind.

Adrianna smirked, "Sure you're not intelligence?" The woman then shook her head, "An internal debate over whether or not to question further on the fact you glossed over one of my comments. But by not commenting, you have provided an answer I should not press. Consider it a Schrodinger cat debate."

"You may always speak openly. If you wish to ask something never question it. I may have not realized what I glossed over." He smiled. "I do have my dense moments."

Adrianna chuckled, "fine." She searched for the words, "I said I'd stop knocking on your door in terms of anything more than a friendship. Is it a door that is bolted shut with a chair propped up against it? I mean when we first met and equally after, hints were made of the flirtatious kind. I saw the way you looked at me and equally Echo."

"Ah." His face flushed slightly. "I would be telling a lie if I did not admit that both you and Echo are attractive. I find you both quite beautiful. The issue is I don't think I am ready for a relationship. Most of my encounters have been light and short and physical rather then emotional."

That dotted the i's and crossed the t's. Still, Adrianna replied, "shame. I suppose we'll just have to remain friends with the common interest of a dark sense of humour."

"Indeed we shall. But let me be clear." He paused. "You deserve better, both of you. You deserve a man who will fully give himself to you, someone who will put you first. With me I always have my career first. It would no be fair to be with someone in that circumstance."

She smiled and leaned in a little, "let me be clear, not everything has to be permanent, but if it's right, anything with resolve itself. You would never be the only one with issues that are a red flag," Adrianna sat back waving him off, "Either way, friends. That I can cope with. I have grappa to last a good few months and at the moment, no room mate, so I can offer rest-bite to a friend in need."

He grinned. "I might take you up on that. Chief Eyelaya ... she can talk a mile a minute."

"Her reputation proceeds her," Adrianna chuckled, "I've yet to have that privileged. I'll be sure to have a lot of coffee first, and be sure to wear a translator."

He gave a snort laugh. "The moment I walked. The exuberance almost made me pass out. She dragged me though the quarters by the arm for a tour."

"I grew up in a house full of men," Adrianna looked playfully shocked, "I don't think I could cope with someone so talkative and..." After a few tries with phonetics in a stuttery like fashion, she finally found the word, though whether or not it was pronounces correctly, was a different question, "ex-ite-ible."

"Yes well I had never wished for something to fall and hit me in the head but I did then." He laughed. "She's harmless but I get the feeling she's lonely for friends for people to talk with."

"That makes sense," Adrianna nodded, "Maybe I should introduce myself. An excuse to bring you another bottle of grappa?"

"That might work. If she asks me about nail painting I may airlock myself...better have a woman there as a buffer." He laughed.

"Let's do that after we eat, so you can get a head start at sleeping tonight, hm?" Adrianna asked, "I'll pop by mine first to grab a bottle. Never know - she may slow down a bit."

He laughed. "Sounds good."

"Can we consider this an IOU if I manage to calm her somewhat?" Adrianna smirked. He didn't need to know there was something else to it - she needed an excuse to meet the chief anyway - intelligence and all that fun stuff.

"Absolutely."

Adrianna finished her food, "I shall be by within the hour then. I'm sure I'll be using that IOU at some point."

{OFF:}