<USS Avalon> "A Rose From Any Other Name"

A Rose From Any Other Nameby Ensign Ffej Harak and Petty Officer Vevay Davis 


Vevay slumped into the office behind Alexander and threw herself into her 
chair. The interview with Jameson had gone alright once Alexander had helped 
her, not perfect but then the woman was stubborn. He was so talented at all of 
that and she was just crap. Like she'd said the night before, she just wasn't 
cut out for her job.

"You did very well today, Vevay," Alexander said as he watched his student 
slide into despair. He was worried about her, she just wasn't acting normally. 
The dinner with the Captain was having a more profound effect on her than he'd 
suspected.

"I barely said a word! You had to take over when I froze up in front of 
Jameson." She wanted to cry, to stamp her feet and scream, but she just slumped 
down further into her chair. "She was just so intimidating."

"She is a..." Alexander was cut off by a Petty Officer's head poking around the 
door of the office.

"Ms. Davis?"

"That's me," she said glumly.

"I've got flowers for you, Ms. Davis." The man deposited a dozen salmon pink 
roses on her desk, nodded and left.

"Oh my God, they're beautiful!" Vevay squeeled. Pulling one of the long stemmed 
flowers out, she sniffed it and ran its soft petals along her cheek. "He is 
just the sweetest man!"

"Who..." Alexander said as Vevay dashed out of the office, rose in hand. 
Wandering over, he slid out the card that she hadn't seen and read the message. 
"Yes, very sweet," he said ruefully.

Vevay ran down the corridor and then realised she had no idea where the ensign 
was going to be. He was probably on duty, but she really didn't care. 
"Computer, locate errr, what's his name?"

"Unknown personnel, please restate the request."

"Damnit damnit damnit!" She was really on the verge of screaming now. Why 
couldn't she remember his name? Why hadn't she thought to check the designation 
on his rooms last night? "Really not cut out for this job." Wandering over to 
the wall console, she asked the computer to call up images of all the blonde 
haired, blue eyed males on board. "And he's betazoid!"

Up popped the face she'd been dreaming of and, under it, his name. "Computer, 
locate Ensign Ffej Harak," she called with delight.

Ffej walked from rack to rack in the armory, counting the endless rows of 
inactive torpedoes. He skimmed the padd in his hand and marked off another 
section. He moved down to the next set and started again. He had been here for 
well over an hour and only covered a third of the inventory. Sighing with the 
sheer numbers of torpedoes that starfleet required be on hand and not 
replicated as needed was astounding.

His back was to her when she turned the corner into the armory. Grinning, she 
tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned to look, she reached up and kissed 
him softly on the lips. "Thank you so much, they're beautiful."

He stared at her in mute shock, unable to comprehend what just happened. 
Eternity passed as he looked into her eyes, in a matter of seconds before his 
tongue could begin to stumble around an answer. "Wha, what was that for? Not 
that I mind of course, and what are beautiful?"

"The flowers, silly." She lifted up the stem she'd been carrying with her. It 
was still breath-taking in its perfection. "You are just the sweetest man. 
They're real too, must have cost you a fortune."

Laying the padd on the rack nearby, he looked at the flower intently then up to 
meet her gaze. "They are indeed a sight, but I didn't send them. Wish I had 
thought of them first though." He looked crestfallen as he started to turn away 
from her to resume counting. "Guess I'm not the only one smitten with you."

"You... you didn't?" Vevay was also crushed. Then who? She hadn't seen a note, 
but she hadn't exactly looked all that hard. Twiddling the flower in her 
fingers, something Ffej had just said hit her. "But you would have?"

He turned to face her fully, taking a long slow breath. "Indeed I would have, 
though I favor long stem whites tiped in red." Ffej leaned back against the 
rack, staring into her eyes. "I... I like you Vevay, but I just, I get 
flustered!" He hung his head and couldn't suppress a giggle. "God, I sound like 
an adolescent teen, trying to talk to his first crush."

Grinning like the Cheshire cat, she dropped the rose and looked up into his 
eyes. "You sound perfectly eloquent to me." She hugged her arms around herself, 
not quite sure what to do next. Glancing down at the discarded rose, she 
shrugged. "Pink isn't really my colour anyway."

Looking at the flower, he bent and retrieved it. Carefully, he twisted the stem 
and broke it off, leaving an inch from the flower's base. "I still wonder who 
sent them." Stepping closer to her, he carefully slipped it behind her comm 
badge. "Never scorn a flower, it did you no harm." Ffej looked into her eyes 
and longed to kiss her but held himself back. "Would you care to have dinner 
with me? After I get off duty that is." He smiled at her sheepishly.

Stroking the roses's soft petals, she said, "I would love to. When do you get 
off?"

He picked up the padd and tapped a few keys, checking the crono. "About two 
hours from now, shall I meet you at the security offices or will you be in your 
quarters?"

Security? Shit! Stuttering, she started to blush. "No, no, err, erm, maybe I 
should come to yours?"

Ffej blinked a few times. There's that barrier again... "Well I guess that's 
fine, if you're okay with it. I could cook for you if we ate in my quarters, 
otherwise it's the ship's galley." He smirked outright at that last comment. 
"Oh yeah, real romantic that would be"

"You can cook?" The perfect man, she thought. I hope he doesn't expect me to 
return the favour. She flinched at the memory of the last time she'd tried 
cooking for Alexander, the results hadn't been pretty.

Ffej laughed, "Haven't poisoned anyone to my knowledge... and I'm still alive." 
He glanced over his shoulder and slumped as the impact of his duties hit him 
again. "Listen, I gotta finish the inventory before I can end my shift," he 
said, tossing a thumb over his shoulder gesturing at the racks behind him. "You 
can see I still have a ways to go... "

"Holy fuck!" She blushed again as she realised how unladylike she'd just 
sounded. "Er, that is, yes, I can see you have your work cut out for you." 
Backing out the door, she smiled again. "I'll see you later then."

He turned and continued counting, walking with a spring to his step and a high 
spirited outlook on the task at hand, that only moments ago seemed dreary and 
tedious. Ffej hummed softly a tune from his collection of meditation music. 
Maybe now she'll let down those barriers and open up. She's hidding something 
but I can't condone invading her thoughts. Before he realized it, he had 
completed the row he was on and half of the next. A grin grew upon his face at 
the memory of her soft lips pressed against his own...

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