What Happens At The Gym, Stays In The Gym

Posted on Thu Jun 13th, 2024 @ 1:18am by Ensign Dani Harper & Lieutenant Jules Mundy

1,227 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: What We Do With Second Chances
Location: The Gym
Timeline: MD 11

After leaving the counselor's office, Jules went to his quarters to change into his gym gear. As he walked to the gym, it seemed people were avoiding him, heading back the way they came, ducking down corridors or going into the nearest door.

It was quiet in the gym, only a few people were there. Some of them left as soon as they saw him, while those that remained moved to the far part of the gym.

After 10 minutes of warming up, Jules walked to the chin-up bar, planted his feet and jumped up and grabbed the bar. He hung there for a few minutes, then started doing some chin-ups. He started with his hands in the standard grip, palms facing him, did a few reps, then switched to the harder grip, palms away.

In the back of the room Dani was wearing lightweight back joggers and a pink tank top, and was lost in a holoimage that gave her the impression that she was running on a boardwalk alongside a beach. However, she could still see the equipment and people around her, including Mundy who had entered the same gym and began working out. Dani chose to ignore him and focus on the sounds and images of her treadmill program.

Mundy finished his pullups. He dropped from the bar, bent over to grab his towel and his water bottle. As he took a sip, he looked around the gym and saw....Dani. He didn't recognize her, but he knew what she looked like from the computer files.

He started walking towards her. He wanted to apologize for what the alien did while in his body.

He approached her and stopped. "Ensign. May I speak with you?"

Dani let out a short laugh as she slowed the treadmill and took out her ear pieces. "You've got to be kidding me right now. Ensign?"

"I apologize, your file hasn't been updated, lieutenant," It wasn't starting very well, was it?

"What do you want?" Dani asked not bothering to correct him.

"I want to apologize for my behavior earlier. I don't know if the crew was informed, but I was taken over by an alien parasite in my brain. I have no relocation of anything that happened in the last few weeks." Mundy said.

Dani had her arms crossed and was tapping the fingers of her right hand against her left arm. "If you have no recollection, then there's nothing for you to apologize for then. Kind of a paradox, you feeling like you needed to come tell me something." Dani started to step around him to go anywhere else.

"I have to apologize. What that creature did was unspeakable. I needed to review the computer files to figure out what happened." He paused, looking at her. "I almost wish I did remember........"

Dani scoffed. "Are you telling me that your... thing... kept logs of what went on with us?" Dani seemed both uncertain and disgusted at the same time.

"No! I used the computer to follow 'me' as he moved throughout the ship! If there were any logs, I would have deleted them immediately!" Mundy responded. "Even if I have no recollection of what happened, I still would still want to apologize."

Dani stared at Mundy somewhat blankly. "Yeah, okay. It's fine. As far as we're concerned, we haven't met before today. Is that what you need?"

"No. When we met, I was controlled by the creature. There must be a reason it selected you for me to communicate with. Can you tell me what happened between us?" Mundy asked.

Dani sighed. "Not in here," she said, leaving the busy gym to find a spot where they would be less likely to be overheard. The corridor alongside the nearby raquetball court was open and quiet, so Dani stopped there.

"Look, we were flirting at the launch party, had a date after, you declared your 'love' for me, and became extremely possessive and things blew up. You really did not like me spending time with S'Niri. At all. I'm just a science officer - we worked together on Serenity, but unless you had finagled something that was really just a coincidence," Dani explained. "The only thing that might be..." Dani hesitated, obviously uncomfortable. "The only thing... my father, my biological father has some connections in Orion territory, but I haven't spoken to him since moving to Federation Space. I left there for a reason."

"I'm sorry if I dragged up some bad memories." Jules paused. "Thank you for speaking with me. I won't bother you anymore." He turned to walk away.

"Look, um..." Dani called out after him. "If my family is in some kind of trouble will you let me know. I have a sister, and my mom is still still with my dad. She's human. I wouldn't want..." Dani looked at Mundy uncomfortably. She was fidgeting with her hands, which she was holding near her chest.

Mundy reached out and put a hand on her shoulder to help ease her worries. "I have no intel about your family being in danger. If I did know anything I would tell you. At the moment, Starfleet Intelligence isn't sharing anything with me."

Dani's eyes looked down at the hand on her shoulder but she didn't move her head before looking back at the Security Chief's face. "Well, I certainly wasn't any conduit to anyone powerful in Starfleet if you're trying to figure out what it wanted. But, you... or it was definitely interested in accelerating the nature of the relationship quickly."

Jules removed his hand. "I'm sure, it was experimenting with human emotions, and it might have seen you as a potential host for the future." He was now anxious and embarrassed. "If I was in control, the relationship wouldn't have moved that quickly."

"That's not the point. If it were just experimenting with emotions, it wouldn't have tried so hard to possess me. Sure, after the breakup, you seemed to be getting around. If you guys are trying to figure out what it's hive is doing, my guess is it's something in Orion or Syndicate territory," Dani said. "The night you met me, you didn't want to talk to anyone else."

Jules looked at her and nodded. "That's a good guess, I'll make sure to mention that the next time I'm in sickbay." He continued to look at her. "I could understand the creature wanting just to look at you and not anyone else." He found her exotic and extremely beautiful.

"Don't flatter yourself," Dani said good naturedly. "And while you're on apologies, go talk to your brother. This fight sounds like nonsense that should have been over years ago. Life's too short."

"My brother is my next stop. We have argued over the years, but you're right, it's time to bury the hatchet as they say." He kept gazing at her. "Is it alright if I invite you to get coffee together?"

Dani had a look of hesitation on her face, but she was curious. Curious who Jules Mundy really was, since she had spent all this time with him, but it wasn't really him.

"Maybe when all this dies down a little," Dani suggested.

"That's okay with me." replied Jules. "Now I have to report back to sickbay for more tests, so if you'll pardon me......"

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