Tweed

Posted on Sat Mar 30th, 2019 @ 7:40pm by Lieutenant Commander Carolyn Corrigan MD

584 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Episode 97 - Cultural Exchange
Location: Academic Campus
Timeline: MD6 1300 hours

"... concludes our presentation. Thank you all for coming and for a very engaging debate!"

Brining his lecture to a close, Doctor James Adams began powering down the equipment from his podium on the stage. He watched as the attendees filed out, the sound of their ongoing debates following them out of the amphitheatre and leaving behind an almost deafening silence. At least, he told himself, nobody had gotten into a physical fight. Though it had gotten close.

"Did you have to antagonise that man?" he asked pointedly as Professor Langdon moved from his spot on the other side of the stage. "We are supposed to be building bridges, not tearing them down."

"Dear boy, debate should be lively, stir the fire in your bones! How else do you know they are really listening? He was passionate about his views, and I on mine. I fail to see the problem." With a dismissive waive, he headed for the exit, "I'm off to find some lunch. You have a visitor."

Frowning he looked around, at first seeing nobody until he realised there was still someone sitting in the back row. Leaving the stage he bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time as he stood in the row directly in front of his guest. "What did you think?"

"Not bad. I only sneaked in at the end though," Carolyn confessed. "Otherwise I'd have brought some popcorn."

"I'll take it as a compliment," he grinned. "At least people were engaged in the subject."

"True..." Reaching down, Carolyn picked up something and held it out towards him, "you left your jacket."

"Oh, thanks," he grinned, managing to look sheepish. "I could have come by and picked it up -"

"Sure you could," she nodded, grinning, "and then what?"

"I don't know," he confessed.

"I have to get back to the ship," Carolyn told him, climbing to her feet, "but thank you, again, for dinner. And sorry."

"For falling asleep? Hey, I'd have done the same -"

"For everything. You were always so patient, the perfect guy and I was... difficult..."

He laughed at that, the sound echoing off the walls. "Yeah, you were that," he agreed. "But I didn't mind that at all. Then or now. I was grateful for every fight, every temper tantrum...the killer was when you listened to them and you went away. I get it, I do. But it hurt like hell cos I already thought I'd lost you and then I'd worry. What if you did something stupid? Again."

"You were never my keeper," she reminded him, her expression hardening.

"Someone had to be," he snapped. He took a deep breath, holding his hands up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"You did but its okay," she smiled. She held a hand up, cupping the side of his face, "I'm not the same person I was. I can't be that girl anymore. And you deserve the Carolyn you met when we were kids. Someone who you can grow old with, kids and grandkids tripping over your feet. That isn't going to be us."

"It could be -"

"Shhhh," she said quietly, putting a finger on his lips. "It's okay. But you, James Adams, need to move on just as much as I do. Find a girl, go back to real medicine - before you start wearing tweed jackets!"

"I may already have one..." he confessed.

"A girl?" she asked hopefully, pulling her hand away.

"No. A tweed jacket..."

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