Defining the Relationship

Posted on Thu Aug 22nd, 2024 @ 3:01am by Lieutenant JG Malcolm Beckett M.D. & Lieutenant Eirly Andersen

2,793 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Helping Brunel
Location: Sentinel
Timeline: MD 15, Late evening

When those from the Astrea who were going to be accompanying the medical team and Brunel during the procedure arrived on the Sentinel, they were first shown to guest quarters - all of which were conveniently located near the surgical center where the procedure would be taking place. The doctors then met for a briefing and a close up look at the facilities they would have available before everyone broke for dinner. While some were meeting up to have dinner together and learn more about the ship and its projects, Malcolm was quick to hurry back to quarters to see what Eirly wanted to do for the evening.

He let himself in to the guest rooms to greet Eirly. "We've got a wee bit of time for dinner, and its surgery first thing early tomorrow and I'll likely be wrapped up for quite a bit. Did you want to do something while you have me?" He asked, a twinkle in his eye.

"Considering I'm mainly here to make sure nothing happens to our crew," Eirly had been sitting down on one of the lounges and rose to greet him, wrapping her arms behind his neck, "I am more than happy to do whatever you want to do." Then she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Are you hungry?" Malcolm asked. "You mentioned needing to talk about something earlier," he mentioned as he slipped his arms around her waist.

Eirly shook her head in response, "It can wait until after we've had something to eat, I'm actually quite hungry. I'm not too fussy with what we have for dinner, actually. I'm happy to go with the flow and spend as much time with you as possible before you inevitably have to go to sleep."

"Well, Dr. McEntyre went to the Mess. Quite frankly I've seen enough of him the last few days, and I'll be seeing enough of him in the future, if you want to stay in and order something from the replicator, I'd be okay with that," he suggested.

"Again, completely up to you, my love," Eirly commented back as she moved a piece of his hair back from above his brow before pulling back out of his reach and flopping onto the couch, motioning for him to follow. "We'll avoid the world, have a replicator picnic on the floor and go from there, shall we?" As he came to settle on the couch next to her, she put her legs across his lap, "I take it you're not entirely happy about this situation?"

"Oh, it's fine. Just round the clock hours together is all I'm gettin' at. I don't think either of us are each other's type," he joked, "but we're both dedicated to getting this right. Between studying for this procedure, and making sure he doesn't relapse, neither of us have even been home a full night since he fell ill."

"Well, we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with it and then there's some shoreleave where we can get off the ship for a little while and just relax." Eirly smiled at him and took his hands in hers, "Which means you can also get away from Dr McEntyre for a while too."

"Aye. It's just been the same old routine here. The ship got a little beat up chasing the Atarans - nothing too bad though. I've heard we're stopping in for repairs." Malcolm got up from the couch, carefully placing her legs back on the cushion. "Let me get our food. You just said you were quite hungry. I can bring it over to you."

"Okay," Eirly replied softly, watching as he walked away and moved herself on the couch to be able to keep talking to him, "You know how much I appreciate you, right? You're probably one of my favourite people on this ship."

"I guess my plan is working then," Malcolm winked at her. "Tell me what you're having for dinner tonight? Or are you skipping straight to dessert?"

She laughed in reply, "Don't worry, for once I'll actually eat some dinner before I go to dessert... im thinking a Thai green curry with loads of veggies and rice. What are you going to have?"

"Hmm, a little green curry. Let's see what we got here," Malcolm said as he typed her ingredients into the replicator's menu tab. "Okay, Thai green curry coming up. Looks like they've got a few recipes for Massaman curry. I'll try one of these."

Malcolm selected one and a tray appeared holding two large plates of food, and separate bowls with various sauces and sides.

Malcolm walked over and placed it on the low table in front of the couch. "Picnic on the floor was it, my lady?"

Sliding off the couch gracefully and into a sitting position, Eirly inhaled the delicious aroma of the curries: the right amount of spice, the ginger and garlic, the sauces. She laughed a bit when her stomach let out a grumble, "Picnic on the floor it is, good sir." She scooped some of the rice and the curry into the bowl. "This is actually so good! Mmmm, I'm sorry, but I'll probably finish this off just by myself." She laughed again.

"Aye, well turnabout's fair play then little, lassie. Don't go asking me to share any then, either," Malcolm responded. He had mixed his food altogether on the plate and took another bite.

"You've been mysterious yet about your trip."

She finished the mouthful of food while eyeing how he'd mixed everything together, "I wouldn't say I've been mysterious about it, but now I've had some food I'm more than happy to share what happened." Sitting back to rest against the couch, Eirly took a deep breath in and out, mostly to get rid of the heavy feeling, "So obviously you know that we went back to Earth to look for Dr. Lange and to get the positron matrices so we can use it to help Brunel and his people, right? Well, we were just doing a bit of the touristy stuff in Lhasa, which is in the Himalayas, and all three of us kind of got kidnapped/taken against our will to an undisclosed research lab, into separate rooms, and interrogated as to why we were there."

Getting up, she walked over to the replicator and got a coconut water for both of them and continued to talk as she did, "We were all in separate rooms, interrogated by different people, my guy was a Betazoid named Brandon, and dosed with truth serum to give nothing but the truth to them. Apparently, Kas shut down and went comatose, Remy was sensory deprived, and nothing happened to me except that I got a really nice view of Mt Everest and some food at the end of it all." She shrugged and then sat back down to sip on the coconut water, "I may have mentioned you being a doctor and having a better understanding of the technical aspect of the technology we were after, and I think that's one of the reasons you're actually here."

"I'm glad you were treated well. Perhaps the Betazoid could tell there was no need to torture you for information. But Dr. McEntyre was always planning to perform the procedure if we were able to get the technology. The technology was in fairly common use until four years ago. Not every medical facility would have one, but most advanced facilities did. I don't think you gave away any secrets," Malcolm stated. "And it's good we're here. I imagine it would be more terrifying for Brunel if he didn't know any of the doctors."

"About the rest, Kas was in a coma? What happened there?" Malcolm asked.

"I honestly don't know the full details of it, you'd have to ask him about it," Eirly shrugged as she took another bite of her food, "All I know is that he answered a couple of their questions, then shut himself down to avoid saying anything else. They did, however, take the goggles he normally wears and inflicted some type of damage to his eye, but I'm not sure of the extent of it."

"These people did that to Kas? And what did they do to the Captain?" Malcolm asked.

"For her, it was sensory deprivation and showing images myself and Kas being hurt worse than we were." Eirly replied as she stole a bit of his curry with a grin, "Other than that, there wasn't much physical damage done to her."

"Do we need to be sleeping with one eye open you reckon'?"

"I mean, it wouldn't do any harm, doing that" came her reply as she stretched her arms out in front, "But I guess if I've got you, I shouldn't have any issues, right?"

"For tonight, Aye. But you should stick with the Winters' tomorrow during the procedure. Hopefully we can get through this as quick as possible and get back to our own turf soon enough," Malcolm said, a note of concern in his voice.

Eirly nodded and spoke softly, "Of course I'll stick with them tomorrow and give them my support. It's the least I can do for them." Turning to face him, she added, "But for tonight, it's you and me, so please put your thoughts on what's happening tomorrow, in the back of your mind and focus on what's happening here, yeah?"

Malcolm looked at her seriously. "It's not that I'm not focused on tonight, but I wasn't talkin' so much about giving them support as not wanting you to be alone. From what you just told me, I'm nut sure how much we should trust everyone here. Forgive me for worrying about it all."

"I love it when you're being protective," Eirly gave him a warm smile and leaned into his shoulder while stifling a yawn, "I'll only trust those we know, and will only be with those we know until you've finished the surgery, how does that sound?" She was trying to put his mind at ease a bit and get him to relax even though the tiredness had just kicked in and hit her like a brick wall.

Malcolm scooted on the floor so that he was next to Eirly and pulled her into him so that his back was against the couch and that she was next to him. "Well, you've been giving me a trite bit to worry about these last few days," he said softly.

"I've got to keep you on your toes somehow," she laughed in reply.

"Well on the other side of this we should still have a wee bit of shore leave left to enjoy. You'll have to find some trouble to get into on Barisa Prime while your waiting tomorrow. I've never been."

"There's some holonovels I've been trying to catch up on so that'll keep me occupied while I wait for you, then we'll both go to Barisa Prime together? I've never been either, and we can have some fun there, like it's our first little trip together."

"Anythin' is fun as long as you're there," he said stopping to take her in and gently stroke her hair.

Having her hair stroked or played with was one of the best feelings in the world, Eirly thought as she leaned in further to him and closed her eyes. If she wasn't careful, she'd fall asleep within minutes. "The possibilities are endless."

"Certainly too much to do in a few days. We'll have to pick our favorites and savor them. Maybe something will be worthy of a holoprogram to bring back with us," Malcolm said. "There's a lot of nightlife, but I think there's supposed to be some hikes into the glaciers there unless I'm mistaken it for somewhere else."

"So is this going to be a no sleep kind of shoreleave then?" Eirly yawned in reply with a grin on her face.

"I didn't say anything about no sleep. I think we'll both be yearning to catch up on that by then wouldn't you say." Malcolm took the arm he had wrapped around Eirly's shoulder's and pulled her close again in a sort of side hug. "I'm just glad you've made it back."

"I'll always come back for you, to you." She stayed there for a while before adding, "I like you too much to not come back." Malcolm was starting to become part of her happy place.

"You have certainly become the brightest spot in my days," Malcolm said tenderly. "What did you want to the rest of the evening? Play a card game or turn on some music? I don't want to be a bore to you."

"Anything you want, I'm not too fussed. I'll probably fall asleep within the next five minutes if I keep sitting here, if I'm being honest." Eirly admitted as she rubbed under one of her eyes, "Choice is totally and completely yours, and you know you'd never bore me, right?"

"I'm not even thinking about how exhausted you must be." Malcolm turned to face her and held out a hand. "I don't mind tucking you in right now so you can get some proper rest. You've been through quite a bit the last few days."

She took the offered hand and stood up, "But if I go to sleep now, it's less time that I get to spend with you," then she pouted as she looked up at him.

"We have all the time in the galaxy, my love." He wrapped his arms around her waist. "What's the rush?" His eyes closed as he leaned in, his lips brushing against hers lightly at first waiting for her to respond before kissing her more fully.

Eirly smiled into the kiss and kissed him back just as passionately, "I'm gonna quote that back to you one day, my love," she could get used to that, to all of it. "But you're going to be tied up all day tomorrow, so there's some time I don't get with you."

"And when I'm free, the first person I'm looking for is you," he responded, a sparkle in his eye.

"Don't make it too obvious to everyone else, otherwise people might start thinking we're together or something," Eirly replied as she looked at him with a grin before she kissed him again.

"Is that not what we're doing here?" Malcolm asked, pulling back to look into her eyes. "I'm not afraid if people know it."

"Is it though?" Eirly asked, biting her bottom lip as she looked at him and placed a hand on his chest, acutely aware of the height difference between them in that moment, "I wasn't aware we'd defined what we are yet." She could feel her cheeks starting to go red at the smile that was trying to form on her face.

"Is that what yer waitin' on?" Malcolm asked an amused and happy look taking over his eyes as he caught her suddenly being shy. "Eirly Andersen, will you be my girlfriend then?"

She nodded in reply and felt her cheeks go even redder as she kept the smile, "Yes, of course I'll be your girlfriend, Malcolm Beckett."

"Well that's a relief," Malcolm said playfully. "I dunna ken what I would've done if you would've said no." He gently placed his hand behind her neck, letting his fingers intertwine with the hair on the nape of her neck. "I'm going to kiss you now," he announced, his voice low as he looked mischievously into her eyes.

Eirly let out a giggle in response and locked eyes with him as she said in a slightly breathy tone, "Okay," and waited as he kissed her deeply and passionately. The idea of sleep had gone out the window and she didn't care, sleep could come later. She chided herself to stop thinking and just give into the moment.

When Eirly began kissing him back intensifying the passion between them his right hand slid from her shoulders down to her biceps, then to her ribcage, just teasing her enough while his left hand pressed into the small of her back and pulled her closer toward him.

Her natural response was to lean right into him, her hands moving from being on his chest to lifting her singlet up and off, and she couldn't help but laugh a bit when his hands went down her ribs. She matched his energy until he gave in and wrapped his hands under her thighs and lifted her up into a seated position before taking her to the bed.

Only time would tell how tomorrow was going to go for them both...

----- Fade to black -----

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