<USS Avalon> Cat Fight

 
 
Cat  Fight                                                                    
                                                  By: Lt. Commander 
Elissabeth Marksbury and Sr. Lt. Melanie Redgrave  
The doctors had gotten Skyler settled into sick bay and  spent hours working 
on her injuries. Melanie had stayed with her, as did  Georgia, until they were 
told she was stable and resting. She would have stayed  longer but the doctor 
had said that only one of them could stay and Melanie knew  that Georgia wasnâ
t about to leave Skylerâs side. After saying her goodnights,  Melanie headed 
home, but changed her direction halfway there. She still had no  idea why her 
sister had gone into self destruct, so she headed for the only  person she 
thought might help her figure it out.  
Dressed for bed, Elissabeth was surprised to hear someone  at the door. 
James? she dared to hope, but knew that it wasn't. He was  taking his cues from 
her, she knew. Presentable anyway, she moved over and  opened the door, 
thinking 
that it must be Anna. Or maybe even Josh, though it  was unlikely. "Melanie," 
she smiled, when the identity of her visitor was  revealed. "You caught me on 
the way to bed, sorry." She looked down at her  clothing, a little 
embarrassed. 
It hadnât even occurred to Melanie that it was late  enough that Elissabeth 
would be going to bed. "Sorry, I didnât mean to disturb  you. Itâs just I 
needed to ask you something about Skyler."  
The smile evaporated from her face, replaced with cool  impassiveness. "Come 
in," she offered quietly. "Do you want something to drink?"  
Melanie shook her head as she walked into Elissabethâs  quarters. "No thanks. 
I donât want to keep you up or anything. I wanted to let  you know Skylerâs 
in sick bay. Georgia and I found her in pretty bad shape on  the holodeck and 
I wanted to ask if you knew what was going on with her."  Melanie bit her lip 
a little as she admitted, "Iâve been so wrapped up in my  troubles with Eli 
that I hadnât even talked to her in days." 
Elissabeth sighed. "First of all, you're not keeping me  up. Donât worry. And 
second, I'm sorry to hear about your sister. I was afraid  of something like 
this. Let me guess... it was a training program from the old  Avalon?" 
"With the safeties off," Melanie added with a nod.  Normally she wouldnât 
have admitted that since Skyler could get in trouble for  it, but she knew it 
was 
safe to talk openly with Elissabeth. "Georgia says she  does this when sheâs 
hurting. Youâre her best friend, Elissabeth, did she tell  you whatâs 
bothering her?" 
"I am not Skyler's best friend," Lissi answered a little  more coldly than 
she intended. "In fact, Skyler and I have a working  relationship only. I don't 
take betrayal lightly." 
Melanie blinked, not bothering to hide her surprise at  Elissabethâs words 
and the coldness in which theyâd been spoken. She had to  think for a moment. 
She was pretty sure sheâd only been self absorbed with her  issues with 
Elijah 
for two days, but it appeared that in those two days a lot of  things had gone 
very wrong. "Betrayal?"  
"Yes, betrayal. I told Skyler something in confidence and  specifically asked 
her not to say anything to anyone, but she couldn't stop  herself from 
meddling. I call that betrayal." Her words were much softer,  belying the hurt 
over 
Skyler's action. She then straightened herself slightly  and said, "I met with 
her this morning and counseled her to see Medical over the  injuries 
sustained in using a holodeck program from the Avalon A. But apparently  she 
didn't 
heed my advice." 
It didnât take long for Melanie to size up the situation  and put some of the 
pieces together. "Meddling is what my sister does. Why do  you think I didnât 
go to her about Elijah? You know her as well, hell, better  then I do. I can 
see how youâd be mad at her, but betrayal?" Elissabethâs sudden  coldness 
must have come through during the meeting that she and Skyler had just  before 
Skyler went to the holodeck. "You knew she was doing this and you  "advised" 
her? She went to the holodeck right after your meeting with her! She  drove 
herself to her breaking point, literally, in part because of you,  Elissabeth!" 
 
She listened to Melanie's words without flinching. Face  still passive, Lissi 
said calmly, "Skyler is an adult. She can make her own  decisions. I don't 
agree with them and I was concerned, which is why I advised  her to see 
Medical. 
And the counselor for that matter. If I had thought her too  unstable for her 
duties, I would've informed the Captain also, but it seemed to  me that she 
was not incapacitated beyond an aggressive holodeck  workout." 
"Do you do this with everyone? They only get to make one  mistake before you 
turn on them and become a cold, heartless bitch towards  people you said you 
cared about? Or is this just special treatment for my  sister?" Melanie spat as 
her accent thickened.  
Elissabeth blinked, "I beg your pardon?" 
"I know I speak with an accent but I donât stutter,"  Melanie hissed.  
"You may leave now, Ms. Redgrave." 
"The hell I will. You may out rank me out there," Melanie  replied as she 
pointed to the door, "But weâre both off duty, so donât even try  to pull 
that 
with me, Elissabeth! Because one, you donât scare me. Iâm not one  of your 
officers who shake in their boots whenever your PMSing... And two, I  happen to 
be fond of you, even though Iâm sure that Iâm now on your cold,  heartless 
shit list, and Iâm not going to let you throw away your friendship  with my 
sister for your sake as much as for hers." 
Anger flashed in her eyes, but Lissi maintained her calm.  "You are way out 
of line and you need to leave my quarters immediately before I  show you to the 
door." She could feel her insides trembling. Though she didn't  want it that 
way, she wouldn't tolerate this conversation any  further. 
Melanie actually laughed at Elissabethâs cold facade.  "You hold back your 
emotions like a true Brit, Elissabeth. I even think a Vulcan  would be 
impressed, but Iâm not." Melanie crossed her arms in a clear sign that  she 
wasnât 
moving. "It would appear you and my sister have a lot in common. You  both hide 
from your emotions. She gets hurt emotionally and she heads to the  holodeck to 
fight until her body is battered and bruised. You get hurt and you  throw up 
that uncaring, unfeeling armor of yours." Melanie shook her head. "Is  holding 
onto your hurt, let down feelings really worth losing so  much?" 
"How I handle my emotions is of no concern of yours. I'm  telling you to 
leave my quarters and leave me the hell alone." Her voice wasn't  raised in 
anger, 
but was incredibly icy and vehement.  
"No."  
Elissabeth walked over to the comm panel. "Security, this  is Commander 
Marksbury. I need you to remove an unwelcome guest from my  quarters." 
A puzzled sounding Lt. Dareth answered. "I'm on my way."  
Turning around to look at Melanie, Elissabeth said, "You  can be as stubborn 
as you want, but you will leave one way or another."  
Melanie crossed her arms and smiled. "Youâll have to do  better than calling 
security, Elissabeth. Or didnât you notice whoâs voice that  was over the 
comm? Do you really think heâd remove me? He worries about you as  much as I 
do." 
"Perhaps, but Elijah can follow orders." Taking a step  closer, she added for 
good measure, "I'm telling you now to leave. This  conversation is over. You 
have no right to come into my home and say the things  to me that you've 
said." Her voice was tightly controlled in anger. "It is  not my fault that 
your 
sister is mentally unbalanced enough to attempt  suicide."  
Despite her desire to help someone she was coming to  think of as a friend, 
Elissabethâs words made Melanie see red. It was one thing  to admit her 
sister 
had issues, it was another to have someone call her crazy  and point out the 
darker side of what sheâd tried to do on the holodeck. "It  is your fault you 
heartless harpy!" With tears in her eyes, and before  Melanie knew what she was 
doing, her right hand was coming across her body from  the left, the back of 
her hand aiming right for Elissabethâs face.  
With many years of perfecting quick reflexes, Lissi  caught Melanie's hand, 
and purely out of instinct had twisted it behind the  other woman's back, 
pushing her against the wall. She stopped herself before she  pulled up on 
Melanie's arm, bringing her a great deal of pain. Elissabeth only  held her 
tightly 
enough to restrain her. "I think, perhaps, you need to learn to  control your 
temper," she said quietly, though she was shaking with  anger. 
At that moment, Elijah walked into the room with two  other security 
officers. "What the hell is going on here?" he asked. Quickly  assessing that 
it 
wasn't something he couldn't handle, Eli dismissed the other  two before they 
got 
an earful as well as an eyeful of what appeared to be a  Senior Officer's cat 
fight.  
"Iâd rather feel and act on my emotions then be an utter  bitch whoâs too 
afraid of her own to do anything but act like a bloody ice  queen," Melanie 
hissed as she stomped on Elissabethâs foot in an attempt to get  the other 
woman 
off her. She hadnât even heard Elijah come into the room.  
Again, in reaction, Elissabeth jerked up on Melanie's arm  as she pushed her 
knee into the back of the other woman's, dropping Melanie into  the floor. She 
was too angry to even speak when Elijah moved over to  intervene. 
"Melanie!" he exclaimed, never having heard her speak  like that before.  
"Piss off, Eli!" Melanie yelled at him as she tried to  get Elissabeth off 
her. Somewhere in her logical mind, Melanie knew that a  forensic scientist 
wasnâ
t going to out maneuver the head of the Covert Ops  department, but she was 
not only pissed, she now had her lover watching and she  wasnât about to come 
off looking like the lesser of the two. "Careful  Elissabeth," Melanie hissed 
as she tried to ignore that her arm hurt a little as  she tried to push 
Elissabeth off, "you might actually FEEL something."  
Suddenly Melanie was released as Lissi took two steps  back. "Throw her in 
the brig for attempting to assault a superior officer," she  ordered Elijah. 
He paled slightly, "Wait a sec, please. Is there any  other way?" Shit, 
that's the last thing Mel needs right now, a mark on her  permanent record. The 
emotions were running way too high in the room.  
"Higher ranking maybe! But superior my arse!" Melanie  yelled as she pulled 
herself to her feet. "Gobshite! Bloody hell," she moaned as  she rolled her 
shoulder and tried to catch her breath. Melanie took a few steps  closer to 
Elissabeth, her face a bright red, her breathing quick and sharp. She  looked 
as if 
she wanted to try and hit her again.  
Elijah stepped between the two. "Melanie," he said,  warning her, compassion 
evident on his face. 
Melanie crossed her arms again and glared at Elijah.  "Donât you dare â
Melanieâ me!" She then jerked her hand out to point at  Elissabeth. "This is 
between me and Elissabeth!" 
"And now me, because Security was called." 
"Get her out of here," Elissabeth ordered  again. 
Groaning loudly, Melanie looked past Elijah. "Would you  STOP doing that?! 
Just stop for one moment and come out from hiding behind your  bloody 
commission!" 
"Melanie, honey, these are her quarters. You have to  leave unless she says 
you can stay. Don't do this. You don't want to..." he  sighed. "You're already 
lucky she didn't hurt you." 
Elissabeth stayed quiet during the exchange, trying to  calm down and catch 
her own breath. 
Melanie looked right at Elissabeth, tears welling in her  eyes that she would 
not shed. "Will that make you feel better? To have me in the  brig? Will it 
make you feel safe from someone who only wanted to be there for a  friend? 
Fine, have me thrown in the brig."  
"Of course it won't. But your stubbornness wouldn't let  you leave, would 
it?" Elissabeth moved around Elijah so that the two woman would  stop having to 
look over his shoulder.  
"Look, whatever this is, I'm sure you can work it out,"  Eli put in, feeling 
caught and torn in his loyalties. "Can you just... sit down  and stop yelling 
at each other?"  
"I'm far from yelling, Mr. Dareth," Lissi added, though  she wanted nothing 
more than for them to go away so that she could yell  and scream out all her 
frustrations to her heart's content.  
"My concern for you wouldnât allow me to leave." Melanie  felt sorry for 
Elijah. The poor man was stuck between a rock and a hard place,  but she had 
her 
heels dug in too far to just up and walk away now. 
"And you have nothing to be concerned about except your  sister trying to..." 
Elissabeth swallowed back the lump in her throat.  Skyler, you stupid woman, 
why do you keep doing this? "Eli, you can go."  
"Huh?" Now he was thoroughly confused. "What in the hell  is going on?"  
Despite what sheâd said to him the night before, Melanie  was grateful in 
that moment for Elijahâs naive side. Walking over to him,  Melanie whispered 
in 
his ear, "Weâre fine now, Eli, love. Weâve cooled down. Why  donât you go 
back 
to the office and finish your shift. Iâll call you when I get  home and you 
can come over and teach me how not to get pinned to the wall." She  smiled a 
little and lowered her voice even more. "Then you can rub my shoulder  cause it 
really does kinda hurt."  
Laying a hand on her arm, Elijah bent down and kissed her  cheek. Then he 
turned to look at Elissabeth for a moment before he walked out  the door. 
"I trusted her," was all Elissabeth would allow herself  to say. She had to 
hold onto that anger or else... or else it hurt too  much. 
"Sheâs not perfect, Elissabeth, she made a mistake,"  Melanie said, her voice 
softening. "You have every right to be angry with her,  but youâre not going 
to do yourself any favors by holding onto that so  tightly." 
"You don't... you don't do that to your friends." She  looked down for a 
moment and then back at Melanie. "Please leave now. You got  the information 
you 
came for." 
Melanie took a few steps closer to Elissabeth. "Yes, I  got the information I 
wanted about my sister, but something new has come up."  Making a point to 
look into Elissabethâs eyes, Melanie softened her voice even  more. "It 
appears 
that one of my friends is hurting, and Iâd like to be there  for her the way 
she was for me when I needed someone to talk to." 
"You should be with your sister."  
"Sheâs drugged and sleeping off her foolishness. Sheâll  get an ear full 
when she wakes up, believe me. I think you both need a good  smack," Melanie 
replied as she refused to allow Elissabeth to look away. "If you  want me to go 
I 
will, but donât think that if I leave now that I wonât come back  to tell 
you 
youâre being a bitch, or that I wonât be around if you need to talk  to 
someone." 
"I believe I've gotten your message loud and clear. And  for the record, I do 
not respond well to being yelled at or threatened."  
Melanie smiled warmly. "Like I said Elissabeth. You donât  scare me. I can 
take whatever you throw out at me." 
"I'm not trying to scare you, Melanie. I don't threaten  people. Now, are you 
finished with your little tirade?" she asked,  softly. 
Melanie knew she wasnât going to get through to  Elissabeth all at once, but 
the fact that she was using her first name again  must be a good sign, right? 
"If this was a tirade, Elissabeth, youâd have had  something thrown at your 
head. Just ask Eli. And Iâm not making threats, Iâm  just unwilling to 
allow 
you to push me away the way you are my sister. Iâm too  headstrong and a bit 
of 
a bitch myself." Melanie smiled a little more. "But yes,  Iâm done with you 
for tonight." 
"I'm so tired of fighting it. All of it. Please, just  leave me alone. I'd p
refer to go back to being isolated and un-meddled with."  
Melanie just shook her head. "Then stop fighting it."  Walking over, Melanie 
put her hand on Elissabethâs shoulder, squeezing it  lightly, and then headed 
for the door.  
She felt herself about to break. Just another few seconds  and Melanie would 
be out the door... but she couldn't. A choked off sob escaped  her throat.  
Hearing the choked sob made Melanie pause. Should she  give the other woman 
the solitude she wanted or should she offer her comfort one  last time? 
Whatâs 
the worse that could happen? Turning quickly on her  heel, Melanie looked at 
the other woman again. She then walked over and gave her  a hug.  
And Elissabeth hugged her back, crying into Melanie's  shoulder. "Why did she 
have to do it?" she mumbled through tears. "I was just  really starting to 
trust..." 
"I know it hurts when you think youâve lost your trust in  someone you love, 
so I can only imagine how much it does when you have." Skyler  was definitely 
going to get an ear full when she woke up.  
"I- I told her not to say anything. And she did. And..."  Elissabeth was 
trying to calm herself down now, despising the weakness.  Sniffing, she 
continued, 
"It almost cost me a very dear friend." 
Melanie walked them both over to the couch and then sat  beside Elissabeth. "I
âm not going to say that I know why Skyler did what she  did, cause I 
donât, 
but I know she cares about you and that she must have had  the best of 
intentions. Though I know that really donât carry much weight. Did  you tell 
her how 
badly she hurt you or did you both just shut down?" 
"I told her. But after James... and then Skyler..." She  wiped the tears from 
her eyes and looked at Melanie. "I just don't want to get  that close 
anymore." 
"I know itâs terrifying to put yourself out there after  being hurt, 
Elissabeth, especially when youâve been hurt more than once, but you  canât 
allow 
that terror to keep you from having a life."  
"It's more than terrifying. It's impossible." After a  pause, she 
straightened herself up. "I'd appreciate your discretion in this  matter." 
"Iâm not my sister, Elissabeth, Iâm not going to go out  and try to handle 
your business for you. I may tell my sister off about acting  before thinking, 
but Iâm not going to hand over a transcript of tonight to  anyone," Melanie 
offered. She knew the last thing Elissabeth would want was a  hollow promise.  
"Thank you," she replied quietly, not knowing what else  to say. 
Melanie smiled as she handed Elissabeth a box of tissues  that had been on 
her end table. "Youâre welcome." Not wanting to push Elissabeth  any further 
then she could handle, Melanie decided to add, "I should thank you  as well." 
"For what?" 
"For letting me get all weepy and girly over Elijah. It  allowed me to be a 
lot stronger when I confronted him." Melanie admitted.  
"So everythingâs okay between you?"  
Melanie nodded and then quickly looked down at her boots  when she felt her 
cheeks begin to warm. "The gobshite kissed him. He pushed her  away and told 
her heâd never cheat on me. Pauly seemed to miss that part. We  ended up in a 
huge fight, I threw the camera at his head, but by the end of the  night things 
had... moved forward."  
Elissabeth smiled for the first time in a while. "I'm  glad to hear that. 
He's a good man." Taking a moment to compose herself,  Elissabeth added, "I'm 
really sorry if I hurt you. Training kicks in and..." She  let the sentence 
trail 
away.  
"We both pushed a lot of buttons... And if Iâd taken a  moment to think 
before I swung at you Iâd have realized I didnât stand a  chance." Melanie 
smiled 
warmly at her friend to let her know she was okay. Then  she laughed lightly, 
"Donât worry about it. Iâll milk a nice back rub out of  it."  
Nodding, Lissi replied, "If you think that I'm okay now,  I do need to go to 
bed. I'll go see Skyler tomorrow."  
Melanie smiled as she lifted Elissabethâs chin up and  looked her over with 
her eyes narrowed. Finally, she nodded. "Yeap, I think  youâre okay for now." 
She smiled brighter as she pulled her hand back. "Donât  feel like you have 
to 
go see her. Go when youâre ready, just donât do nothing.  Ok?"  
"I can't make you any promises."  
"Thatâs ok," Melanie replied and leaned over and hugged  Elissabeth again. 
"Promises can be broken whether you mean to break them or not.  Besides itâs 
not 
me you should be fixing things for." 
"I don't have the ability to fix anything."  
Melanie stood up from the couch and then looked down at  Elissabeth. "Youâd 
be surprised what you have the ability to do." Again Melanie  squeezed 
Elissabethâs shoulder. "Good night, Elissabeth."  
"Good night," Lissi whispered as Melanie left, knowing  that as exhausted as 
the encounter left her, she wouldn't sleep. She had way too  much to think 
about.

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