Be Our Guest

Posted on Sunday, 24 January 2021 - 3:34pm by Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt & Lieutenant JG Maximus Mackenzie & Lieutenant Haru Hernandez

Mission: Operation: Trail of Tears

ON:

Mac looked at the clock. Adrianna would be joining them for dinner soon. All was prepared and ready for their guest. He was nervous. Haru would be meeting Adrianna for the first time. He set the final dishes on the table and hurried to the bedroom bringing Haru to the table an helping him into a chair from the hover chair he was in.

Adrianna was on-time and in civilian clothes. Somehow she'd managed to find the time to look like something other that a member of Starfleet. She sounded the chime and waited patiently. She assumed it may take longer to answer than usual.

"Come on it." Mac called just as he'd finished settling Haru into the chair. The door parted and he smiled. "Welcome!"

Adrianna smiled as a hello, before lifting up her hand to highlight a nice bottle of grappa, "thought it would be rude to show up to a dinner party without a gift."

Mac licked his lips. "A deadly one." He laughed taking the bottle. He motioned to the chair. "Please have a seat. I cooked."

Haru raised an eyebrow. "H...how br...brave are y...you?"

"Me?" she asked, "I feel there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity. I dance on that line."

"H...His food will tttest you." He said trying to push out the words. His speech was getting better but still was not up to snuff.

Adrianna chuckled, "I was half expecting him to invite me round to cook."

Haru smiled.

Mac sighed, "you two joke but I cook very nicely."

Haru smiled towards Adrianna. "T...the Bajoran..resist...tance could have...us..used your cooking to...scare the car...Cardassians."

Adrianna snorted and looked to Haru, "is Mac holding you hostage and feeding you as if you are a prisoner of war?" she smirked, "just say the word. I'll rescue you."

Mac stood looking at the two. "Alright that's enough you two."

Adrianna chuckled and looked back to Mac. "Sorry," she replied, though playfully, and far from apologetically.

"Yeah well. Replicator did most of the cooking."

Haru smiled. "Then w..we are safe."

"He said most, not all," she whispered, teasingly to Haru.

Haru liked Adrianna. It was a distraction.

Mac got the food all distributed and sat down. "So, how have you been settling back into routine?" He asked Adrianna knowing that the Jupiter station and Earth stops had not been easy for her.

Adrianna shrugged a little, "not too bad. Leopold is very regimented, so he's a good influence. What about you?"

"Settling in," Mac said. He couldn't articulate how happy he was to have Haru with him.

Haru looked distant. "L...looking af...after baggage." He said. He saw himself thusly. Yes he'd learned to talk but Mac still had to feed him and move him. He could move his hands, that was an improvement but they still shook. He felt...like a burden. He wondered why Mac still loved him.

Adrianna offered a small smile, "baggage is a derogatory term for someone Mac loves. In most cultures, caring for a loved one is part of the love cycle."

Mac sighed. "I tried to tell him that. I love taking care of you."

Haru sighed. "You have... taken care of me si...since we met."

Mac smiled, "And I always will....except for the cooking. That's all on you."

Haru smiled a little, the melancholy lifted slightly.

"The more he cares for you now, the more karma he'll accrue," Adrianna teased, "I think he may be plotting something big."

Mac winked at her. "Well tuck in. Tell me how wonderfully I can cook..... replicate."

Adrianna snorted at his wink, but then tucked in. After a few mouthfuls, she finally commented, "your replicating skills are great."

The meal was slow and Mac helped Haru but with Adrianna's help she managed to keep Haru occupied enough not to think about it. Mac was more then grateful. After they'd finished the meal Mac cleaned up and then sat down. "Alright, now for dessert!"

Adrianna grinned, "Haru is right there and I won't do anything without Leopold agreeing." She then sat back in her seat, "honestly though, I'm not sure I could eat any more."

"Eve...even chocolate?" Haru said.

Adrianna thought about it and looked to Haru, "well, maybe a little room."

He smiled. Mac dished out the chocolate and then sat down. "So did you hear the rumour?"

"I hear many in my line of work," she replied, "to which do you refer?"

"We're on our way to the Neutral Zone...the old Neutral Zone."

Adrianna nodded, "not scared are you?"

"Actually...I prefer the Romulans to what's going on, on Earth."

"The language is better than standard for cussing in too," Adrianna replied honestly.

Mac laughed. Haru raised an eyebrow. "Y..you two think alike."

"Sorry," Adrianna smiled, "I guess we're too alike in our sense of humour. Dark humour does tend to be the best. I'm just glad to be getting away from Earth."

Mac sighed. "I can imagine. I hear there was some rough..times. I was with Soral when he found out his wife was hurt."

"Si, I'm surprised he didn't kill me," Adrianna groaned, "I trust Alex. She was also one of the few with smarts to help whilst being inconspicuous." It took her a few attempts to pronounce the last word, "I saw my mother, and then my brother. In between all that, a lot of familiar faces that weren't great. I almost got both Leopold and Alex killed."

"Well the key is you didn't...and I know the Vulcan nerve pinch. Kept him down for an hour. He was less angry when he woke up...well at you."

"Well thank you for being the buffer," Adrianna offered a smile, "I have to admit, it was exhilarating to be back. Scary, yes, but my gawd. I wouldn't change anything."

"We can't ...always choose," Haru started. "Our..fam...family of birth. But we can..." He stopped winded. "Choose this family." He reached over and gave her hand a pat, somewhat awkwardly because he was still learning to use his hands well.

Adrianna looked to the hand and after a moment, relaxed enough to put her free one ontop of his, "they aren't all bad. Turns out that winds are changing there."

"Good," Mac spoke. "Sometimes they have a moment of clarity." He winked.

"We'll see," Adrianna offered wistfully, "the winds my be changing but the trees are still there, and it's a forest I know I cannot go to." She swallowed some of the chocolate, "you know, I wish I had not taken Leopold with me. But not for the reason you'd think."

"Oh?" It was Haru that said that. Mac was glad to see him engaged in the conversation. After so long feeling sorry for himself, which was not the usual for Haru, he was now starting to come out of his shell with Adrianna. Mac was glad that he'd planned this dinner and that she'd come.

Adrianna smiled, "well, first, he said he loved me whilst we were running from people wanting to kill me. Literally, worse timing. Then, he met my mother. My mother hit on him and now he only refers to her as a cougar. My mother has been blessed with immunity to age. Gawd I hope I have her genes."

Mac's eyes bugged out and then he laughed. "Poor man...how'd he reject mama cougar?"

"He thought she was joking," she replied with a chuckle.

"Oh that's always fun." He pause. "But let me ask you, he's still here right?"

"He is," she chuckled then went dark, "for now."

"Then he's a keeper." Mac said. "Adrianna can I make an observation and suggestion?"

Adrianna raised a brow, "Depends."

"On?" Haru asked curiously. He was enjoying talking with Adrianna and watching the interaction with Mac and her.

Adrianna looked to Haru, "it depends on whether I'm about to get a philophical lecture."

Mac sighed. "No, not a philosophical lecture but just an observation that you don't allow yourself to let loose as much as you should. With Leo let yourself go Adrianna, give yourself permission to fall."

"I don't understand," Adrianna looked confused, "you make it sound like I'm holding back. There's very little he doesn't know. I've not fallen like this in years, and even then, I feel that I have fallen harder. The difference is that I don't feel that this Starfleet officer will leave me for dead."

"Good. But your mind will rebel trust me. Don't let it. Just remember what you've said here just now and tell your mind to take a hike when it protests."

"Talking from experience?" Adrianna asked out of interest. In one sense she was hoping to find someone who understood her mind like this sometimes.

"Yes. That's why we took so long." Mac said covering Haru's hand.

Adrianna nodded, "perhaps an obstacle will come along. I know that Leopold is strong enough to pull me back. He has before, both literally and metaphorically." She looked to Mac and said something with such honesty, it flashed a true human side to the woman, "we know that we're broken. It the people that fill the cracks with gold to make something that is art. We are nothing, without the strength of others. We will always see the cracks, because we are the ones that dropped us, making us shatter." Adrianna ran a hand through her hair, "anyway, enjoy the grappa. I'm going to head out."

Mac gave a nod. "I'll walk you to the turbo lift." He stood. Haru said his goodbyes and soon Mac and Adrianna were strolling to the lifts. "Thank you," he said.

"I didn't do anything," Adrianna offered in return.

"He was more engaged then ever and the more he talked the better it got, his voice, I mean." Mac did something he rarely did. He hugged her.

Adrianna was startled and froze; her body stiffened at the physical embrace. After a moment on stunned silence, she finally hugged him back, "any time, ok? Though if you make me fat, you'll owe me. Also, I could do with talking to you about something. But the conversation is a grappa until alcohol poisoning one. So, another day."

He smiled as he let her go. "Another day then."