<USS Avalon> "Tennessee - Part 1"

Tennessee - Part 1
By Lieutenant First Class Melanie Redgrave and Ensign Elijah Dareth
 
 
The hallways were pretty empty as Melanie made her way down to transporter room 
three. She was meeting Elijah there and the two of them were then going to beam 
down to the surface. He was going to take her to Tennessee and she was looking 
forward to it. She enjoyed spending time with Elijah and it surprised her at 
how fast they had become friends.  

 
Friends with maybe more, she thought to herself as she entered the turbo lift. 
She enjoyed his company and the ease she felt with him. She liked that when she 
was with him she didn?t have to think about other things. She also liked the 
feeling of being wanted when she was with him. Not wanted in a sexual way but 
just wanted. He liked having her around and she liked having him around. 
 
Melanie smiled when she stepped off the lift just in time to see Elijah heading 
down the hall. She nearly called out to him but then suddenly stopped. Had she 
ever seen a pair of jeans worn that well before? Instead of calling out for her 
date to wait up, Melanie followed him.  

Elijah was taking his time getting to the transporter.  He knew he was early, 
but he was so excited.  When he had talked with his mom and Trinity, they were 
excited to know he was coming home.  He had been pretty bad about keeping in 
touch lately because of this being a new post.  A new post in which he 
immediately was put to work with the Rydyn delegation.  It had been so nice to 
wave good-bye to the more-than-bothersome race.

As he turned the corner, he caught sight of Melanie from the corner of his eye. 
 He stopped instantly, wondering why she hadn't called out to him.  "Are you 
following me, Ms. Redgrave?" he drawled.  
 
"It would appear Mister Dareth that I am," she said in her best investigative 
voice, although she allowed more of her accent to come out then she normally 
would if she were really working. She knew how much he liked her accent. 
 
Elijah couldn't help but smile.  By golly, she's adorable, he thought.  "Here," 
he said, reaching for her small bag, "lemme get that." 
 
Melanie finally smiled as Elijah reached for her bag. She allowed him to take 
it and then wrapped her slender fingers around his upper arm. "Your such a 
gentleman, Elijah," she said as they headed for the transporter room. "I?m 
really looking forward to this. It is ok for me to be coming along isn?t it? I 
would hate to be intruding on time with your family. I know how precious that 
time is."  
 
Her touch sent little tingles coursing through him.  His voice nearly caught in 
his throat, but he managed to swallow and tell her, "Absolutely.  I called mom 
and talked to Trin too.  They were both excited and asked about a million 
questions.  Y'see, I've never brought a female friend home with me before and 
they, of course, uh...assume that...well..."  He took a deep breath.  "Please 
don't be offended if they keep calling you my girlfriend.  I didn't tell them 
that, but there's no stopping my sister when she makes up her mind about 
something."  He finally looked over at her instead of avoiding her gaze.  
Cocking his eyebrow, he asked, "You still wanna come?"  
 
"Of course I still want to come." Melanie told him as they entered the 
transporter room. 
 
"And if you want to get scientifically detailed, I am a girl," Melanie smiled 
as she looked down at the curves that her jeans and white button up shirt 
revealed. "Or at least I was the last time I checked. I also happen to be your 
friend. So I guess the label fits." Then she paused. She didn?t want to jump 
too far a ahead, so she added, "In a scientifically detailed way of course."

"Of course," he swallowed, having been slightly distracted by her drawing 
attention to the fact she was a girl, as he had followed her gaze over her 
body.  "You're the scientist, after all."  He handed a PADD to the transporter 
operator with the coordinates and they took their place on the transporter pad.

It took only moments before they materialized in another room entirely.  
Standing in front of them was a slender girl of about twenty years old smiling 
brightly.  She had the same smile as Elijah.  
 
"Eli!" she squealed and threw herself into his arms.  He picked her up off her 
feet slightly and returned the hug with enthusiasm.  "You're later than I 
thought you'd be," she said, her voice muffled in his shirt.  "I've been 
waiting lunch for you.  I cooked.  Real food.  And it's edible."  She laughed 
as he set her back down on her feet.

 
"Forget the time difference again, Trin?"

 
"Oh." Her defined brows narrowed for a moment and she tossed her short blond 
hair out of her face.  Then she quickly turned to Melanie.  "Sorry that my 
brother is so rude and hasn't introduced us yet.  I'm Trinity."  She reached 
out to shake Melanie's hand.  
 
Melanie took the offered hand and smiled. "It?s nice to meet you, Trinity. I?m 
Melanie. And it?s ok he?s a guy after all." When she could see them both 
standing near each other the resemblance was clear to Melanie. For the briefest 
of moments she wondered if people would be about to do that if she stood next 
to Skyler. The only thing she was sure they had in common were their eyes. 
 
Trinity looked at Elijah and said, "C'mon.  You guys hungry?"  The two admitted 
they were and followed Trinity out of the room into the entryway by the front 
door.  It seemed to be a loft of some sort, the walls surrounded by shelves and 
shelves of books.  The ceiling was vaulted, leaving the room open and airy.  
Looking over the railing from the library, you could view the entire living 
room, dining room and kitchen below, yet the house was large and homey.  They 
made their way downstairs to the kitchen where Trinity set about dishing out 
food.  It smelled really good.  
 
The entire time, Trinity had been chatting about her latest pictures, Eliza's 
play, and what their parents had been doing at work.  Melanie and Elijah sat at 
the bar and watched her busy herself while talking.  Elijah gave Melanie a 
secret look of feigned annoyance.  His attention was brought back to Trinity 
however, when she said, "Geez, Eli, I know you said she was gorgeous, but you 
don't have to stare at her.  Give the poor girl some room to eat."  She handed 
them both a plate with fried chicken and biscuits and a side of spinach-looking 
cooked leaves.  

 
Elijah blushed fiercely, trying vainly to think up a comeback to that.  
 
Melanie tried not to blush or look surprised that he?d told his sister that he 
found her gorgeous but she wasn?t sure she was having much success. Melanie 
picked up a biscuit and broke off a bite sized piece since it was a rather 
large biscuit. She?d forgotten that people in north America seemed to eat much 
lager meals. She was suddenly very glad she?d skipped breakfast. "What is 
this?" She asked as she poked at the green stuff. "It smells wonderful."

 
"Collard greens," Trinity told her.  "And I didn't mean to embarrass you.  I 
forget sometimes that my mouth runs away with me.  Sorry, Eli," she said, and 
bit her lip.

 
"Apologise to Melanie," he told her and she complied.  They fell to eating and 
the food was really good.  Trinity had learned to cook very well.  Most girls 
nowadays just pushed buttons on a replicator.  
 
A man wandered into the kitchen about halfway through the meal.  He was an 
older version of Elijah to a tee.  "Glad to see you made it, son." he said.  
"And who is this lovely lady?"  He smiled the exact same smile too.

 
"Hi dad.  This is Melanie, my friend.  Melanie, this is my dad, Peter."
Peter held out his hand for Melanie to take.  "It's my pleasure," he said with 
a familiar twinkle in his eye. 
 
The food was absolutely incredible and unlike anything Cook ever fixed. Melanie 
suddenly realized just how bland and boring English food was. When the older 
man entered the room Melanie?s relaxed posture stiffened a little. It wasn?t as 
stiff as if she were coming to attention, but rather English societal 
upbringing.  

 
She took the offered hand and smiled a little as she shook it. "It is nice to 
meet you Mister Dareth. I wanted to thank you and your family for allowing me 
to join you. I know time with your son doesn?t come along to often." 

 
"Yes, well, that's Elijah's choice," he said stiffening.  Then smiling again, 
he said, "We're very glad to have you Melanie. Please, call me Peter.  And your 
accent is superb."  
 
Melanie laughed a little. "Thank you, Sir. Elijah?s told me the same thing. I 
do believe it?s the main reason he enjoys spending time with a stodgy Brit like 
myself." Melanie made sure to smile brightly and then wink at Elijah to let 
everyone know she was joking. "I wish I could have helped get him home sooner 
but we had quite the mess onboard ship." 
 
"Oh really?"  It was obvious that he was feigning interest.  Matters in 
Starfleet didn't capture his attention.  He fixed himself a cup of coffee and 
sat at the bar with the two.  

 
"Ooh!"  Trinity exclaimed.  "Tell us about it!"  
 
The disinterest of Elijah?s father was strong and came across to Melanie 
clearly. She looked over at Elijah and didn?t like the look in his eyes. She 
didn?t need this whatever it was of hers to tell her he wished his father would 
take a little more interest in what he did. 
 
"Well my end of things is hardly worth going into, pretty boring science stuff. 
Elijah, however, was a great help to our assignment. He aided in over seeing 
the well being of our delegates. He was quite bloody brilliant at handling his 
duties." She told them with much pride.  
 
"Don't be so modest," Elijah said, looking intently at Melanie.  "From what I 
hear, you pretty much solved the case yourself.  I just ran interference for 
Marksbury.  At least I tried."

 
Trinity smiled watching the two of them stick up for each other.  It was really 
cute. 

Peter nodded, and stood, taking his coffee along.  "Your mother should be home 
by five and then we'll go out for dinner before Liza's play."  He disappeared 
back into the room he came from.
 
Melanie watched as Elijah?s father walked out of the room. He hadn?t said a 
word to his son about his work and it made Melanie want to frown but she 
wouldn?t allow it. Instead she turned back to Elijah and Trinity. "Do we have 
time to see more of outside before your Mum gets home?" 
 
"Absolutely," he grinned.

 
"Winnie and Bo could use a walk," Trinity told him.  "I'll clean up if you 
wanna show her the clearing."

 
"Good idea, Trin."  Then turning to Melanie, he asked, "Do you like horses?" 
 
To be continued...



                
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