<USS Avalon> Interesting Dinner

Interesting Dinner
by. Lieutenant JG Caine Reilly McKinsely

Caine had gone to Captain Ketchum office to speak with him about the 
investigation and to hand over the rest of the information she had gathered.  
Unfortunately he was not in, so she just left the PADD on his desk and headed 
out to visit one of her friends.  What she really wanted to do was visit Javan 
but she was still unsure whether that would be appropriate or not.

Stepping in front of the door, Caine rang the chime and awaited permission to 
enter.  The door slid open and she walked in.  The room was decorated brightly, 
in blues and yellows, with flowers everywhere and cute finger paintings and 
drawings.  

?Caine, it?s great to see you,? Jeffreyi said, walking forward and giving her a 
friendly, brotherly hug.  ?Come on in.  Would you like something to drink?? he 
asked, moving away to pick up some work PADDs and put them on a table.  
?Hannah,? he called to the back room, ?we have a visitor.?

A little girl of seven years old came bounding out of her bedroom and ran right 
into Caine?s legs, hugging them tightly.  ?Caine!!  Come, you have to come see 
my bedroom,? she said excitedly, grabbing onto Caine?s hand and pulling her 
into the bedroom.

Caine laughed and followed happily.  It was so wonderful to know the Hannah, 
she was such a wonderful little girl and anyone who would meet her now would 
never have guessed her past.  Smiling, she stopped outside the little girls 
room and covered her eyes as Hannah demanded.  

Guided by a small hand in hers, Caine moved into the middle of the bedroom 
before being told to stop.  ?Open your eyes.?  Slowly Caine opened her eyes and 
took in the bedroom.  It was painted bright pink and in one corner was a huge 
doll house.  There were dolls and play clothes all over the floor and on 
Hannah?s desk were millions of crayons and paints, with lots of paper to color 
on.  The bedspread was hot pink with orange and yellow ?hippie? flowers on it.  
The thing that probably caught Caine?s eye the most was the beautiful porcelain 
doll sitting in a place of honor on the dresser. 

?Wow, Hannah, your room is very bright and colorful,? Caine said as she 
squatted down to the little girl?s level.

?So you like it?? she asked.  It was painfully obvious that Hannah needed a 
woman?s approval and acceptance.  

?I simply love it.  It was very cool of your dad to let you decorate it.?  
Hannah wrapped her arms around Caine?s neck.  Caine put her arms around the 
girl and lifted her up to hold her.  ?I like this doll, where did you get it??  
She asked, pointing to the porcelain doll.

?Daddy gave it to me.  He said that when mommy died, she said she wanted me to 
have this.?

Caine nodded and smiled to herself.  This was good for both Hannah and Jeffreyi 
to be able to have something like this doll sitting out.  ?Well, she is 
beautiful.  Now why don?t we go out into the living room, I?m sure your dad has 
dinner ready by now.?

The meal was wonderful and Caine found herself laughing at the jokes that were 
told and goofing around that Jeffreyi and Hannah did during dinner.  It was 
great to see the two of them building a strong bond; she just hoped it would 
last.  

After dinner, Caine and Hannah went into her room and played dress up and put 
make up on each others face.  But it quickly grew late and Hannah was falling 
asleep.  Jeffreyi came into her bedroom and told her it was time to get ready 
for her bath.  Caine hugged the endearing girl goodbye and was walked to the 
door by Jeffreyi.

?I can?t tell you how happy I am that I took Hannah to see you.  Life has been 
so wonderful,? he said as the two of them stood at his door.  

?I?m just happy to see the two of you getting along so well.  Makes me happy 
with my job.?  Caine was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable and wanted to 
leave and go back to her quarters and just relax a bit.

Jeffreyi moved a bit closer to Caine.  ?You are a very beautiful and wonderful 
woman Caine.?  He lifted a hand to her cheek.  ?I was wondering if you wouldn?t 
mind meeting me for dinner tomorrow night, just the two of us.?

Pulling back, Caine tried to think of a nice way to turn him down so that he 
would understand that his attention was not wanted in anyway but still be able 
to hang out with Hannah.  ?Jeffreyi, that is not possible.  I am in love with 
Commander Sierra and it would be extremely inappropriate for us to meet in such 
a manner.?  She could see her words had hurt him and she hadn?t wanted to do 
that but it was for the best.  ?Now if you will excuse, it is late and I still 
have some work I need to do.?  With that Caine turned and left his quarters, 
taking a deep breath and feeling herself relax some.  

Caine decided that maybe it would be a smart if she stayed away from Jeffreyi 
for a while and only see Hannah when she came in for her weekly check ups.  She 
hated the fact that her relationship with the little girl was going to have to 
suffer.  Caine hadn?t meant for him to be attracted to her at all, that was 
never her intention, she just loved the company of the little girl and had come 
to see Jeffreyi as a good friend, like one of her older brothers, never as 
anything else.  

Walking into her quarters, Caine sighed and went to her room, preparing to get 
ready for bed.  While she changed and brushed her teeth and such, she chewed 
over the problem of Jeffreyi in her mind and came to the decision that she had 
handled it properly and wouldn?t tell anyone about it unless he tried to pursue 
her again, then she would tell Javan, he would understand.

Feeling better, Caine climbed into bed and immediately felt herself start to 
drift off.  Before she fully fell asleep though, she sent a thought to Javan, 
?My part in the investigation is done.  I want to come see you tomorrow.?


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