'La ! Nous sommes chez nous !

Posted on Wed Mar 2nd, 2011 @ 11:10am by Lieutenant Kiyraesyn Valdor
Edited on on Thu Mar 3rd, 2011 @ 4:12pm

Mission: Shore Leave 1: Pacifica
Location: CMO's Quarters
Timeline: A few hours after "Resolution"

Kiyraesyn stepped over the threshold and into her quarters, home at last. Whatever that meant. As soon as she made her entrance, the familiar visage of her loving wife appeared to embrace her warmly. Valdor kissed Eridani back with such enthusiasm as Eridani had not felt in quite a few weeks. As they pulled apart, she beamed.

"Well, that's different!" She said.

"It's been a long mission, this one," Kiyraesyn replied, "and I'm not sure how to process all of it. I think I may need to check in with my Chief Counselor." It was half-jokingly, but Eridani was not impressed.

"How about you pretend I'm the Counselor and you talk to me about all this, hm?" She pressed, sliding her hand over Kiyraesyn's and grasping it firmly. The CMO smiled and accepted another embrace, kissing her wife once more on the lips. As she did so, she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.

"I've missed you." She whispered.

"You too."

"Come, let's just have a bit of a wind down." Kiyraesyn guided Eridani over to one of the settees in the room and sat down, her hand still entwined with her partner's. "If you'd fetch me a glass of El-Aurian honeywine, I would love you forever."

Eridani tossed back a laugh.

"Don't you already?" She chided playfully.

"Of course!" Valdor shot back, kissing her again, only this time pressing more firmly their lips together. "Off you go."

"Yes ma'am!" Eridani sprang from the sofa, clicked her imaginary heels together and went about the task of replicating a glass of honeywine for her companion. "So tell me a little about what's been happening in Sick Bay? I was starting to think you'd never get out of there, that I'd have to swoop in and pluck you up and sweep you away."

"No, no...well, it started out a normal sort of week, you know, routine medical exams...and then the Bracken Colony incident happened and suddenly I found myself rushing about to patch up injured Romulans and...one very frustrated and weary Lieutenant who is struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and refuses to admit it. Beyond diagnosing it as such and suggesting therapy as treatment, there's nothing much more I can do for her."

"I see." Eridani returned with two strangely-shaped glasses of a reddish drink, which swirled in and over itself steadily, and even glistened in spite of the dull lighting of the room. She handed off one of the glasses to Kiyraesyn. "Here, darling." They clinked them together and each took a ginger sip, as they had each been filled to the brim, and Eridani took her place yet again beside her companion to relax and listen more. "Wait, Romulans?"

"Rayat'e, don't you pay any attention to the security alerts?" Kiyraesyn grumbled frustratedly.

"Well, no, not really. That's not my line, Kiyraesyn, you know that...I don't leave this room much anyway. I've got too much work to do here."

"Speaking of which, how is all that coming along ?"

"So-so. The research is progressing very slowly..." Eridani explained. "I've reach a bit of a lull in the project."

"Shall I have a look then ?" offered Kiyraesyn.

Eridani shook her head.

"No, no, you wouldn't have the time nor the inclination to sift through all the data..."

"Of course I would!" Kiyraesyn smiled half-indignantly, setting her glass down on the table in front of them. "Why would you think I'm not interested in what your doing?"

"Because, lately, you've been so often away from home that I wonder whether you've completely forgotten me." Eridani replied emphatically, also setting her drink on the table.

"Rayati..." Kiyraesyn moved closer and put her arms about her wife's thin, trim frame. "I could never forget you...you know this. I love you more than anything. I don't want you to ever feel so neglected. Ever."

"I just wish you could take a little time off."

"Actually, we're on Shore Leave now...a planet called Pacifica, have you ever heard of it before ?"

Eridani furrowed her brow, indicating that she had not.

"Well, it's absolutely breathtaking...I was thinking we may want to take advantage of that, together ?"

"Oh yes, naturally. Shall I pack ?" Eridani beamed, excited at the prospect of a long-awaited holiday. "When do we leave ?"

"We could go down tonight if you like, I've already made arrrangements for us."

"Have you, oh wonderful, yes that sounds spectacular, I'll go sort my things !" Eridani abandoned her now empty glass of El-Aurian honeywine and set herself to opening every drawer and sifting through outfit upon outfit. She wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to frollick about an exotic planet with the love of her life at her side. About time, too ! She had begun to wonder whether it weren't a more emotional distance forming between them. After all, she had hardly seen Kiyraesyn at all for the past three weeks, what else could it be ? The answer, Eridani assured herself, was, of course, only that Kiyraesyn was as dedicated a medical practitioner as she was a spouse and therefore, she allowed duty to override her more emotionally considerate nature. Eridani had come to appreciate and love this aspect of Kiyraesyn's personality, despite her own habit of forgetting about it from time to time, whenever the airs of avarice took her captive. In the end, Eridani would always return to re-plant her feet on the ground of reason and compassion, and rejoin Kiyraesyn in the bracken of domesticity and coupled life. She felt quite content here, and would never choose to stray.