Home for the Holidays

Posted on Sat Nov 26th, 2011 @ 4:34pm by Lieutenant Colonel Damian Highsmith & Petty Officer First Class Tanner Willeg

1,248 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mission 78 - Colonial Uprising
Location: 'The Christmas Corridor'
Timeline: Immediately following Experiments in Holidays

Damian was walking through the corridors when he came upon something odd, or rather multiple oddities. There seemed to be multiple angry elves guarding the doors at multiple intervals, a gleaming silver pole at the northernmost end, and a rather large polar bear with a crimson cap perched atop it's snarling face. Damian continued to walk and in the middle of this, he saw the person he knew was responsible for this crack at the holiday spirit.


Continuing to stare at the metal bladed object, Tanner's brows lowered and her face drew closer to the contraption. It'd twitched. It hadn't twirled around, or gradually flowed into motion, but she could've sworn she seen a semblance of movement. She raised the PADD in her hand up to eye level and frowned. To prove to herself that she hadn't imagined the windmill's movement, she glanced up.

The good news was there was a person standing there, which meant she hadn't imagined the machine's movement. The bad news...when she glanced up, the second windmill, which she hadn't been intently studying spun quickly, then came to a sudden halt. The abrupt reaction caused her gaze to shift toward the machine, down to the PADD, back up, and finally coming to rest once more on the previously churning mill. "Traitor," she grumbled at the machine.

Damian raised his eyebrow at this. He kneeled down and tapped Tanner gently on the shoulder. "What are you up to in here, Tanner?" he asked before taking a seat and crossing his legs.

Her free hand rubbed at the back of her neck, and lips pressed as she tried to formulate an accurate answer to the question. "I'm trying to determine if the natural energy produced by the average nervous system could, when properly contained and routed, be used as a source of power."

Though her eyes didn't lift far enough to meet his, Tanner's brow raised slightly as he lowered himself to the floor with her. "The decorated hallway is an attempt to stimulate said nervous systems into a clearer response, currently being read through the motion of this windmill." Nodding at the second windmill, Tanner added, "that one's the control." Or at least it had been, until about thirty seconds ago.

"And you?" Leaning against the wall, Tanner scanned the corridor for marines, somehow convinced that where Damian wandered, someone was shortly behind, with some information or orders to pass on. When none appeared around the corner, she seemed to relax somewhat, "you're about to say... I must immediately deconstruct the decor, so this hall can be used for the testing of a secret hydro-powered argo-buggy. Close guess?"

Damian chuckled slightly "You're actually dead wrong." he smiled, priding himself on resisting that bit of mental probing and pulled a bottle from the satchel next to him. It contained a clear, dark brown liquid. He then produced two small shot glasses and handed one over to Tanner. "You know it's been a while since we've done this. I figured you could use a pick me up." he said as he poured the liquid in Tanner's glass and then filled his own. "Cheers" he said as he raised his glass.

"It has been a while," Tanner agreed. Taking the offered glass, she sniffed at the liquid, "although, I don't recall you toting around bottles of whiskey." Her head tilted, as though she were about to ask a question, but instead she lifted her glass, "...know, ...hope, ...pray, ...believe."

Glass clacked, and Tanner tipped the glass back before setting it down on the floor between them. "There some special occasion that has you carrying liquor, or have you decided to open a tavern in the P-way? I think we could fit a table or two between the pole and the candy-cane forest."

Damian tried to find the right words "I just wanted to spend some time with you. It's been too long and I..." Damian poured and took another shot,wincing as he tossed back the drink, the liquid burning his throat as it went down. Damian became silent and eyed the bottle.

"Too long," she repeated, not sure herself if she intended the words to be some form of agreement or perhaps a piece to some puzzle that needed to be shoved around before it found it's place. Certainly, they'd known each other too long for either to start acting like someone they weren't.

And you what? Tanner wondered. Lifting the bottle, she poured them each another drink. "You should know..."

In a way that mirrored Damian's actions of just a moment before, she tilted back her glass. Once swallowed, her eyes remained closed and she finished the sentence in a rush, "Ikepttheringdon'tbemad."

Damian stopped for a moment and took a mental step back. She had kept the ring. The only tangible symbol of his commitment to her and she asked him to be calm. He didn't want the ring back, he just wanted some type of closure. He tossed back another shot.

Damian decided to cut the red tape and just say what he was thinking "Tanner, I love you, more than anything and I think you do too, or else you wouldn't have kept the ring." As soon as the words left his lips, he became silent and waited for a response. He knew that this could go over one of two ways and he hoped it was for the better.

Reflex had the words rushing out, "of course I..." Biting down on her lip, Tanner sucked in a breath and reminded herself that she'd promised...that if she ever ended up in this situation again, she wouldn't react without thinking. She wouldn't end up saying something that sounded angry and hurtful. She wouldn't end up shouting. Calmly, carefully, she repeated in almost a whisper, "of course I kept it. I couldn't leave it there."

She turned, and for the first time since he'd sat down looked at Damian directly. It occurred to Tanner that the truth was never as apparent to others. How, she couldn't have said, but she'd always assumed that he knew she'd picked up the ring rather than leaving it on the park bench he'd placed it on. "You thought I left it?"

Blinking, eyes wide, Tanner took in what felt like an empty hole growing larger, expanding until she thought she could hardly breathe from the pressure of it trying to push everything else out. "You didn't know either way." He hadn't know until she'd told him, but still... he'd stopped to ask what she was up to, how she was, and had brought a bottle of whiskey. Just wanted to spend time... That's what he'd said.

"I'm sorry." Reaching over, she took Damian's hand. "I kept it... still keep it..." How could she explain that it was something so simple that she'd never had a choice. No matter how angry or upset she'd been, she couldn't have left it behind. "I love you, too."

Damian pulled Tanner so that she faced him completely and placed his forehead against hers, feeling her warmth. He could hear slight whispers in his head, what seemed like Tanner's thoughts. He wanted to calm down but he felt at home. He pulled Tanner close to him again and rested his head on her shoulder. He could smell the scent of engineering lubricant mixed with vanilla on her. He breathed it in and oddly, he knew where he needed to be: wherever Tanner was.

RSS Feed