<USS Avalon> "New Boundaries"

"New Boundaries"
Lt. Josh Garrity and Ensign Annabelle Chase



Mac resisted the urge to chase her down, knowing without question that it 
wouldn't help, but not sure what would. 

Dammit, why were the people you loved always so goddamn complicated?

Tapping his combadge, he growled. "McEntire to Chase..."

Annabelle groaned as she rolled over in her tiny single bed and reached for her 
comm. badge. "This had better be worth waking me up, Patrick. You know I'm 
still adjusting to the shift change."

"The kids moved all his shit out of our quarters and locked himself in a hanger 
bay. You tell me. Is that worth it?" Mac answered, flopping back on his own bed 
again.

Sitting up, Annabelle rubbed her face with her hands a moment and then replied. 
"Yeah I'd say that was worth it. I'll go down and see what our wonder hermit is 
up too."

"Thanks, doll. Let me know when you find out, will you?" Mac asked, sounding 
somewhat dejected. 

Pulling a pair of yoga pants out of her dresser Annabelle replied. "Of course 
Mac." She then dressed quickly and headed for the shuttle bay. When she got 
there she found the doors locked. "Oh good grief." Moving over to a panel in 
the wall she removed it's cover and stuck her hand inside. She tinkered inside 
the wall while biting the tip of her tongue and looking upwards as it there 
were a blueprint for the wires, chips and buttons inside the wall on ceiling. 
After a few moments there was a slight click and Annabelle smiled. 

Annabelle walked over to the doors again and when they opened she laughed."Try 
and lock me out. Ha! You silly boy." She walked over to the shuttle and stood 
at it's ramp.

Josh glanced at the viewscreen and sighed. He started rose and moved toward the 
ramp controls, as if to lower it, but then thought better of it. Shaking his 
head slightly, he sat back down. He'd had more than his share of socializing 
for one day. Instead, he turned back to the panel he had open, the chips 
splayed around him, and continued his work.

"I can either stand out here for as long as it takes or I can beam myself 
inside Joshua!" Annabelle yelled so she could be heard, not so much for Josh to 
hear but so others would. She knew he'd rather not have a bunch of people start 
crowding around. "And don't you dare think of beaming me out of this bay 
either! Do you hear me mister?! I'll just keep coming back and next time I'll 
being one of my turbo lift gifts!"

Josh groaned when she began yelling, wishing she wouldn't make a scene. He 
stood and went to the ramp controls quickly when she began to threaten to bring 
her 'gifts', his eyes wide and his face red, knowing without a doubt she really 
would. He lowered the ramp and went back to what he was doing, hoping she'd see 
he was busy and opt to visit later instead.

Annabelle walked up the ramp and into the shuttle. It was the first time she'd 
gotten a good look at it. Why is there only one seat? "So you wanna tell me 
what Mac and Anna did that got them banished?" She asked instead. 

He considered her question a moment, then shook his head. No. He really didn't.

She made sure he knew she was getting closer to him and then made sure she was 
in his line of sight before touching him, turning him to face her. Then she put 
her hands on her hips. "Let me take a stab at it. They were trying to get you 
to A, eat, B, sleep, C, stop working, or D, stop acting like a jackass who 
feels the need to push everyone who loves him and who he loves in return away, 
or E all of the above." She paused to take a breath. "And if you turn away from 
me to work on the consol again I'm gonna flash you." 

Josh looked at her, baffled. Flash him? What did that mean? Shaking his head, 
he turned back to his console, ignoring the warning that meant so little. He 
had a lot to do and very little time to do it.

Annabelle slipped in between Josh and the console and then grabbed hold of the 
hem of her tank top. "Ok, guess I'll just have to show you that I mean what I 
say." She slowly started to pull the power pink shirt up her torso and then a 
little more so it was clear that she wasn't wearing anything else under it. 

"Hey," Josh protested, moving her hands back down as he realized what she was 
about to do. "Just...can you..maybe...wait...." he gestured toward the other 
side of the shuttle. "Over there...please... with all your...you 
know...clothes..and things...on..okay?"

Annabelle wasn't sure if she should laugh, be insulted, or hurt. "Nope." She 
replied as she crossed her arms. "Not waiting. We're going to talk. Sit. Now."

"But I've got..." he gestured toward the work he was in the midst of, spread 
out around him, incomplete. "I can't....just let me..." He looked at her 
pleadingly, as if imploring her to at least let him finish what he was doing 
first.

If I didn't love you I'd knock you up side your thick head. "You have five 
minutes." Leaning in she kissed him quickly on the lips and then lowered her 
into his chair, crossing her legs and recrossing her arms under her breasts. 

Josh nodded, then went back to work, replacing chips so quickly one who didn't 
know him might suspect he was just jamming them in randomly. But only one who 
didn't know him. With quick but careful precision, he inserted each chip into 
its proper place then began the diagnostic that would tell him if the problem 
was solved or not. The diagnostic finished with a minute to spare, which Josh 
spent carefully cleaning the area he'd been working in before finally sitting 
cross-legged upon the floor and giving Annabelle his full attention.

Annabelle slipped off the chair so that she was sitting in front of Josh with 
her legs crossed just like his. "Now, tell me what happened to make you send 
Mac and Anna away and way you moved out." 

Josh opened his mouth to reply, but found that the words escaped him, as usual. 
And so he did the only thing he could. "No," he responded at last, standing and 
pacing to the other end of the shuttle toward the replicator. It was definitely 
coffee time.

"Did you just tell me no?" Annabelle asked as she sat there and blinked. 
Getting to her feet she spun around and stared at him, hands on her hips. 
"Don't give me no.. Take as much time as you need to get the words together, 
but tell me what happened." She looked at him with soft eyes and a loving 
___expression. "Please." 

Josh looked at her, frustrated and confused. Why was she here? "They..." He 
stopped. Thought. Started again. "It wasn't...it...they didn't..."again 
stopped. Regrouped. "Je déteste ceci" he muttered, before trying again, "I 
just...I needed ... space...okay?"

"Needing space is ok." She moved closer to him. "And they are in that gooey 
part of their courtship. I'd beam them out too.. But why move out?"

He stepped back until he was against the console, answering quietly. 
"I...well...Mac...they...need space too.." He answered nervously.

She stepped closer to him, making his inching backwards moot. "Is that why you 
moved out? So he and Anna could have space? Ya know she has her own place, you 
didn't have to move out for them." She smiled at him as she closed the distance 
between them a little more. "Though we could use our own space too."

"I ...I didn't...I don't...I mean..."his back now quite firmly pressed against 
the console plating now. "if you could...just..." He tried to step past her 
without touching her, but was finding the feat nearly impossible, even as 
slender as he was. "I need..to...." he gestured toward the replicator.

Reaching up Annabelle pressed both of her hands to his chest. "Yeah I know, 
coffee." She smiled and shook her head. "Do you really think any of us are 
going to let you push us away? I mean goddamn it Joshua, I'm fucking in love 
with you! I'm not going anywhere, and neither are Mac or Anna. We're it 
Sweetheart, we're a family." 

"I...no..you don't...you can't..."He looked at her desperately, fighting hard 
against the feelings she stirred within him. He gently wrapped his long slender 
fingers around her petite wrists and tried to draw her away. "...please..." he 
asked near inaudibly, looking away. Did she know what happened to people who 
loved him? Had it not occurred to her that there was a reason he was alone? 
Didn't she understand that this couldn't happen?

Her voice became almost as soft as his. "I'm not scared of the shadows chasing 
you Josh. I want to fight them with you. Why don't you understand that your 
worth it?" She didn't allow him time to answer. Leaning in, Annabelle kissed 
him. 

Josh felt abruptly lost in the sensations, her scent as it filled the air 
around him, her warmth against him, her taste upon his lips. His arms went 
around her waste on their own, and for the briefest moment, he held her there, 
savoring the sweetness, before coming to his senses. He looked at her, lost and 
confused. "We can't...I can't..." he tried again to explain. At a loss, he 
finally tried one last time to tell her, "You should go now..."

Annabelle's eyes sparkled with a sheen of tears. "Sending me away isn't going 
to make me stop loving you."

Josh looked at the tears that threatened to fall and shook his head. He didn't 
want to hurt her. Not ever. But he knew that if he didn't push her away now, 
she faced a more serious risk later. "What will?" he asked her seriously.

"My death." She answered him honestly.

He looked stricken by her answer. "Annabelle...," he sighed shaking his head, 
torn between the need to push her away and the almost overwhelming urge to 
simply give up and hold her to him. But he couldn't do that. It wasn't that he 
didn't love her. He did. Both knew he did. It just wasn't worth the risk. 

Was it?

As if she could hear his unspoken question Annabelle kissed him again and then 
pulled away. "It is to me." 

He wanted her to go...and yet he didn't. Catching her hand as the distance 
between them spread, he stepped forward without a thought, drawing her back to 
him and kissing her of his own accord, gently yet fully upon the lips, savoring 
her sweetness for a long lingering moment before stepping back and, smiling 
shyly, resuming his progress toward the replicator. 

Annabelle stood there in shock. He'd kissed her! She blinked as a smile tugged 
on the corner of lips. A moment later when she could think again she turned and 
watched as he got his coffee. Then she nodded to herself. We're going to be ok. 
"Next thing you know you'll be humming old Carpenters songs." 

He turned to her, coffee in hand, looking confused yet again. "Carpenters?" he 
asked quietly. 

"Yeah you know, when your near why do birds suddenly appear." She replied in a 
sing song voice.

His brows shot up under dark curls as he shook his head, clearly baffled, and 
turned toward the diagnostics console to see what else could be done before 
time to move out.

Annebelle just laughed. Then she asked, "Need any help?"

Josh smiled silently, unaccountably pleased by the sound of her laughter, and 
shook his head. "it's done...just..." he sighed, turning back to her. "Just 
waiting now...I guess...."

"I still can't believe your doing this, Josh." There was fear in Annabelle's 
eyes. "It's so risky."

Josh shrugged. Life was risky. Besides, it had to be done. He'd spend hours 
going over all possible options in his head while working on the planet and on 
his way home. This was all he had come up with, all he was sure would work. And 
he really was the only one he was sure could do it. "don't..." he shook his 
head. He wanted to promise her it would be alright, that he'd be safe. He 
wanted to tell her that she was worrying for nothing. But he couldn't. He 
couldn't lie to her. Instead, he just told her, "Don't be afraid." 

The tears that had threaten to fall a moment ago were back. "I can't help but 
be afraid. I don't want to lose you." She went to him, pressed her hands 
against his chest again only this time she also laid her head there. "Just 
promise me you'll be as careful as you can."

He wrapped his arms around her and held her to him. He stood there like that 
for several long moments, holding her in his arms and listening to the sound of 
her breathing,  before he answered at last, "I promise."

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