After all is said and done

Posted on Fri Apr 15th, 2022 @ 6:51pm by Ensign Alexandra 'Lexi' O'Connery & Commander William Gerhard
Edited on on Fri Apr 15th, 2022 @ 6:52pm

Mission: Mission 6 - Memory
Location: Crew Quarters
Timeline: Day 280 23:00
2522 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

It took a few moments but she managed to get herself a quick shower awkwardly with her leg outside but she felt clean which was the point. Dirt and grime were no longer in places that she did not want to think about how they got there and she was in a fresh t-shirt and shorts. Lexi looked around her quarters picking up this item and that item that was in reach of her bed trying to remember things and grinned as she saw her photo wall and the people on it. Mostly crew, a lot of the communication team, the girls she had bunked with at university, the places she had been but the special ones printed out on her dwindling supply of photo paper were of William and herself. She could not help but wonder of the location of some of them and what trouble she must have dragged him into.

It really sparked a few memories which were nice she felt less like she was hobbling on eggshells with her own body and mind. She looked up as the chime from her door went off and she called out to come in. She gasped before repeating the phrase surprised that she was speaking standard and it sounded standard instead of whichever language her brain decided to switch to at that moment.

William entered Lexi's quarters and saw her lying on her bed. She appeared to be fresh out of the shower, her hair still slightly damp. He smiled as he entered throwing a thumb over his shoulder, "Avira said she had discharged you from sickbay, so I thought I'd pop by and see how your doing." He spoke to her in standard and nodded when she gave him a surprised look, "And yes, everyone can now understand each other in standard." He pulled her desk chair over and sat leaning slightly forward, "Would you like to know what we discovered in the tower?" He knew she was probably bursting with questions, but he didn't want to make her upset that she had missed all the excitement.

Avira had discharged her with drugs and instructions to get rest as her body had been through so much in the last nine months between the Vrav attack and the tower collapse. "Thank goodness. It was exhausting being a human translator." She lay back down having sat up a little to see who was coming in and if she need to sit up. She moved a little around with her cast and lay on her side. "I am the one who does not know you so, of course, you know that I want to know everything that happened." She shook her head at him and smiled.

He smiled in return as she sat up to look at him. He fought the urge to join her on the bed, but he knew that they were not ready for such an act yet. "Well, the tower was....alive. It appears to have been some sort of organic structure that had rudimentary telepathic abilities. It showed us the history of the planet," he said before pausing. "It was exhilarating, The team was all connected somehow as we were filled with visons of the planet's past. The tower was dying, and it wanted us to know the history it had kept alive for who knows how long," he continued. The visions flashed across his mind and he felt the familiar sensation returning. He looked back over at her, "It was beautiful."

“Sounds amazing and exactly why we all decided to come out into the universe.” Lexi said almost gutted that she had not been able to share it all. It sounded like something that she would have found amazing. “I bet the science team are having kittens over the discoveries that are making. But an organic structure that’s mind boggling.”

"I'm sure they are. Elegy was the first to mention the possibility. It's a shame he wasn't there to see it," he replied. They sat there for a moment, their own thoughts processing about Elegy's injuries. He looked back up at Lexi with an upraised eyebrow. "I also have some more exciting news you might like," he said.

The mention of Elegy brought up memories of warmth and friendship and she clung to it for a moment before he carried on talking and declared he had exciting news. "Go on. Do not tease." She said smiling as she felt like she was having the most normal conversation in forever.

"The captain asked me to be the Second Officer," William answered. He let a smile come across his face before looking back down at his boots, "I tried to talk her out of it, but she was persistent."

"Congratulations." The woman let out a cry of happiness and propelled herself at him giving him a hug before she realised what she was doing and how painful it was going to be but she did not let go even when her brain caught up with what she had done. It was just a normal reaction and it felt natural. "I am not letting go... this feels natural." She whispered knowing she was surprising them both.

He was momentarily caught off guard as she wrapped her arms around his neck. The momentum pushed his chair slightly back on it's wheels. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist before his eyes widened in surprise. He smiled when he heard her whisper in his ear. "Trust me, I don't want to let you go either. But your leg," he trailed off as his eyes looked down at the casted leg lying slightly askew to her side.

"But yeah painful." She said as the pain in her leg became something more even if she was balancing on her good foot. Her body was not at all impressed with her attempts to do something other than lying there after all the walking around she had done.

He gingerly repositioned her before he scooped her up in his arms and made the short journey back to her bed. He had to slightly drag her as she attempted to hobble her way with him. He laid her back on her bed, letting her bandaged leg lying elevated while he leaned back against the side locker at the foot of the bed. She repositioned herself to where she was more comfortable and he let his own legs hang off the side. "Is that better," he asked slight concern in his voice.

“Yeah I am good.” She murmured as she blushed red in embarrassment at his help and how natural it all felt. Her leg instantly felt better raised leaving her there stuck. “Sorry..”

"You haven't lost your touch though, several times before you've jumped across at me like that," he said with a smile. "And thank you, I just hope that I can live up to the captain's expectations," he continued before looking out her window at the stars going past. There was a bit of self-doubt that had creeped into his voice, but his exhilaration at her response stayed with him. Her look of pride warmed his heart as they sat there together, his arms around her . For a moment, he felt as if they were back to normal. This scene was very familiar, all their time spent together.

The silence settled for a long time before the blonde shook her head. “You will be fine. I might not know it up here but I do know it here.” She put her hand over his heart and smiled at him. “You deserve this even if it has come about in a way you’ve not wanted.”

William smiled back at her before covering her hand with his own, their fingers lacing between each other. "I really appreciate that Lexi. You've always known how to make me feel better, even if we are just retracing our steps," he said softly. He looked into her eyes some before they found themselves inching closer to one another. He closed his eyes as he pressed his lips to hers and for a moment they were lost in the moment. As they pulled away slowly, he glanced down and gave her a shy smile, "I hope i didn't just make things super awkward between us."

“Nope. That wasn’t as nice as that snog in Leah Morgan’s garden but still nice.” She teased ever so slightly with a smile as she shook her head. “Just retracing step. Slow and steady.” She said not matter how much she wanted to push things forward she mentally or physically could not push it forward.

William laughed at the memory she was describing, "Definitely not as nice." He looked back down at her before smiling slightly, "I suppose you won't be sharing this with the good doctor? The last thing i want is a lecture from her."

“I won’t tell if you won’t tell. The doctor is just concerned. If we were married or our relationship was more known they would have no issue.” She pointed out thinking that the kiss was most likely should not be mentioned to anyone. Beth had mentioned to her that their relationship was not well known but she knew that it must have been going on a long time with his clothes in her quarters and the way he had reacted when the tower fell told her that. Lexi was inclined to believe Beth and what he heart was telling her.

William nodded in agreement, his ears perking at the mention of marriage. Very few people knew of their relationship, though some had started to put the pieces together. His response to her injuries had confirmed to most that there was something deeper going on between them. "She isn't the only one concerned. I just don't want to do anything to jeopardize possibly getting back what we had," he said before pausing to give her a grin, "But it won't be in the shadows this time."

“Then we will leave that kiss there and move on.” She prompted with a smile. She was surprised that they had managed to keep their relationship so secrete. “So tell me two things… how come you are chief armoury officer and how did we ever keep us a secrete?” She wondered.

"Well your first question requires a rather long explanation. The short version is that Sloan was demoted and I was moved up into that position. Much like how Beth became the captain. Alot of things happened when we first got stranded out here, only recently has any type of normalcy come back," he said. He didn't want to dive into the topic of Sloan and his revelation as a Romulan just yet. It was still a sore subject on him and he didn't fully trust himself to explain the situation without letting his own personal feelings color it. "As for keeping us secret it is quite amazing we kept it for as long as we did. There was a lot of late night scurrying around," he said giving her a wink. Indeed it was nearly a full time job keeping things between them hidden.

Lexi nodded. She knew that it was not everything but it was enough for now when her head was still very much like a tide coming and going. “Well that would explain why I constantly feel exhausted.” She laughed. It was not the painkillers nor the antibiotics that were helping to heal her up at all. “I do not want to live in shadows. It seems like so much work and not what anyone needs.”

"I know you don't, and we had decided to stop being in the shadows so much. I know you probably don't remember that conversation, but we did have it," he said reassuringly. Their original agreement was to keep things quiet, but as their relationship had grown, they had gotten more comfortable with not hiding it.

“I remember bits of my memory. I remember watching movies in rec room, I remember the hydroponics bag and hiding out there… it’s as lol bits and bobs but it makes me happy.” She soothed hoping that it would be enough for now to settle it all.

"I'm glad it makes you happy," he said before looking down at her and smiling, "In fact, watching movies in the rec room was your idea. You organized a ship wide movie night, which I helped with of course." He remembered the night fondly because Lexi had been so happy with how the evening turned out. William had been so proud of her because her efforts had helped those crew who attended forget about the daunting journey facing them to get home.

The woman smiled a little and shook her head. It sounded like her but she was not connecting the dots correctly at the moment but she was sure she would eventually. “Of course you did. I am pretty sure I did not give your a choice.” She laughed. “Hmm maybe I could organise more stuff whilst I hobble around?” She mused with a look that spoke purely of plans afoot in her mind.

"I did offer to get you a wheelchair," he replied while stifling a laugh. He knew that Lexi hated the fact her leg was still casted up, and he remembered the look she had given him at the senior officer's meeting when he had suggested it.

“And how am I meant to roll into any compartment?” She said reminding him of the doors and the fact they were raised and able to be sealed. “Silly man.” She shook her head. “Not that hobbling around will stop me.” She assured laying back.

"I'm sure everyone would love another movie night. Your film choice was quite impressive," he offered. While he would never tell her the movie had not really been something he would've picked, it had proved to be quite entertaining.

The woman nodded. She could remember that the choice had been something fun and took everyone’s mind off of what was going on. Maybe she could pick something for another night that could help. Maybe make it a regular thing. “I will think on it some. Got any suggestions?”

"I don't think you want any of my suggestions. We kind of went through this the last time when you thought it was incredulous that I hadn't really seen many movies before," he said remembering the conversation they had had. In his youth William had been too busy being a troublemaker to go to the cinema.

“Ah.” She grew quiet thinking on all the times they were going to have to go over the same things. “This might be awkward repeating stuff again.” She admitted rubbing the back of her neck.

"Just makes the journey that much more fun," he said before he looked down at her and smiled. They had a long road ahead of them, but he was beginning to see the positive side of things. How often do you get to fall in love with someone twice.