<USS Avalon> =/\= Late Night Conversations =/\=

=/\= Late Night Conversations =/\=
by Yeoman Miriam Francher and Yeoman Siobhan Finkelstein


The double-pocket doors swooshed open and closed again, night-dimmed corridor 
lights not impinging on the darkened quarters where one Yeoman sat at the 
dining table with a single overhead light illuminating her studies.

"Been in the holodeck with Dr. Ngaio again?" Miriam asked her roommate as the 
younger girl came through the door in the wee hours of the morning.  If she 
had been on the receiving end of such teasing, she'd've blushed 
uncontrollably.  But Siobhan was far too light-hearted to be easily 
embarrassed; she just 
nodded and grinned.

"I'm glad you two get along so well," said Miri, and it was true, even if she 
did feel pangs of envy.  "He deserves to be happy... and so do you," she 
added as an afterthought.  She made an effort to turn her thoughts back to 
studying for her semester exams.  Taking Academy courses by extension was 
rough, 
because she had no one to study with.

Ordering a glass of milk from the replicator, Siobhan came to sit at the 
table, watching her roommate with furrowed brow.  But she didn't say anything 
yet.

Miri looked up from her PADD.  "Something on your mind?" she asked.  They got 
along well enough as roommates, but their conversations hadn't ever gone 
beyond the superficial.

"Are you in love with him?" asked Siobhan abruptly.

"In..."  Miriam grabbed the end of her long braid and held onto it, to keep 
it from whipping wildly around.  "In love with him?" she squeaked.

Siobhan couldn't even find it funny, because it really was sad.  "That was 
what I said," she murmured.

"I guess you could say I have a bit of a crush on him," Miriam admitted 
finally, getting her hair under control.  "He's nice, and... well, he can hold 
up 
his end of a conversation."  And he's a good kisser... But she kept that 
thought private.

"And he's a telepath," put in Siobhan.  "I know you are, too."

Miri nodded, but laughed nervously.  "So, what's this about?" she asked.  
"You're not trying to fix me up with the guy you're sleeping with?"

Siobhan drank down half her milk and wiped away the white mustache with the 
back of her hand.  "He asks about you," she said flatly.

"Well, why not?  We're friends..."

Shaking her head, Siobhan picked up the glass of milk again, then set it 
down.  "Look, I know I'm the one sleeping with him, and I won't say I don't 
enjoy 
it, 'cause I do.  A lot.  But you're the one he wants, Miriam.  I'm just... 
well, a friend he can jump into bed with."  She held up a hand as Miriam opened 
her mouth to speak.  "No, listen.  It's okay with me, I don't mind being that 
friend.  Because I'm not ready for more.  And when I am, I don't think El is 
going to be the right man for me.  He's a good friend.  He's good in bed.  But 
he's not... not my soulmate."  She paused.  "He might be yours, though."

Miriam took a moment to collect her thoughts.  "Why would you think so?" she 
asked once she had.

"I don't know.  I'm not a telepath," Siobhan pointed out.  "But I'm an 
empath.  I feel things.  So just call it a feeling, I guess.  But you should 
talk to 
him.  He said he hasn't seen you in a couple weeks, and every time he goes 
into the library looking for you, you're not there."

Since she had been avoiding him, Miri blushed deeply.  "It's just..." she 
stammered, "just that... I won't jump into bed with him... and I won't ask him 
for a commitment he's not ready to make."

"Maybe you need to say that to him," said Siobhan gently.  "Maybe he's 
readier than you think."

Miriam got up and fetched a cup of coffee from the replicator, pacing around 
the room with it before sitting back down.  "Why are you saying these things?" 
she asked.  "Why would you even think about giving up what you've got with 
him, when I won't give him that?  And why would you leave yourself out in the 
cold, anyway?"

Siobhan laughed, and finished the rest of her milk.  "El and I have fun 
together," she said, "but we're friends, above all.  I want my friends to be 
happy, 
and I think he could be happier in a relationship with you."  She laughed 
again.  "And I can get sex from someone else, if I want it.  There's lots of 
guys 
on this ship who'd jump at the chance to be with me."

Well, that was true enough.  Miri sipped her coffee slowly.  "I don't know," 
she replied.  "I'll talk to him if I get a chance, but I'm not going to go out 
of my way to find him."

"Just talk to him," Siobhan urged.  Because if you don't, I will.  She didn't 
say it aloud, though, and she knew Miri was too principled to be reading her 
thoughts, even those on the surface.

Miri was.  "When I get a chance," she promised.  "Now, I've got to get 
through this reading before I get to sleep."

"Okay, I can take a hint!"  Siobhan retreated to her bedroom, laughing 
softly.

But it took a while before Miriam could concentrate on her studies again.

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