<USS Avalon> "Tides"

Tides
Elissabeth Marksbury
and
Bryce Quinn


Serving as the Judge Advocate General onboard a ship that had just passed 
through a legal nightmare had its advantages. Now that the seas had once again 
become calm, everything on his front had settled down. It was one long boring 
day after another in the legal offices. Either way, it was always nice to walk 
into a welcoming household after a long day - eventful or not. And this evening 
was no different.

The familiar sound of the sonic shower accompanied the swishing of the doors 
opening. He unzipped the top part of his jumpsuit and folded it down around his 
waist and rubbed the top of the purple turtleneck with his hand. Bryce sat down 
on the couch and propped his feet up. 

The table was unusually cluttered. Scattered across the delicate surface were 
throngs of PADDs. Some active, some not, some sealed for privacy, and others 
open freely for people to browse through. Curiosity killed the cat - and Bryce 
too, apparently - as he snatched the closest one and perused the contents. He 
read it again. Three times. Six. What?

"Lissi!" 

The urgency in Bryce's voice startled her nearly to the point of being 
frightened. She hadn't even expected him home this early. Quickly exiting the 
shower, Elissabeth wrapped a towel tightly about her and hurried to the living 
room. "What's wrong?" 

"What's this?" He said through nearly gritted teeth as he tapped the PADD 
almost harshly in his hand. He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but it was 
pretty blatant about what she was doing. He had dealt with Section 31 before a 
time or two, but it was never a good experience. "Section 31?" 

A flash of anger erupted from her eyes. "Put it down and walk away from it." 

"Oh, no. That is not how we handle things. What is this?" 

"That's how we handle this. Bryce, just put it down and forget that you ever 
saw that and I'll forget that you ever looked through my things." Her voice was 
calm, back to nearly a whisper, when inside, she was quivering. Not to mention 
feeling completely vulnerable standing there undressed. 

"It was flat on the table. And, since when do we decipher between whose things 
are whose?" He was up on his feet now, still standing across the room. He 
started shaking the PADD at her. "What are you doing, Lissi? Why does it 
involve Section 31? What the hell is going on?" 

She stared at him stoically, refusing to let his emotional response phase her. 
After a long moment she spoke, "If you want answers from me, Bryce Quinn, you 
ask curious questions. I don't respond well to being interrogated in a manner 
that shows you've already jumped to conclusions." She turned and went into the 
bedroom to dress. If it were going to be a confrontation, she was a least going 
to be fully clothed. 

He followed her, visibly pissed to high heaven. "Elissabeth, this is the 
Section we're talking about. Rumored by most and only experienced by some. Some 
consider it to be a branch of Starfleet that isn't there. Filled with 
dishonored Klingons and impoverished Ferengi. And, they're dangerous. What are 
you doing?" 

"I'm getting dressed." 

"I'm getting pissed." 

"That's obvious enough." Finally sliding her blouse over her head and 
tightening the belt on her jeans, Elissabeth looked across the small room to 
the man she loved more than she ever wanted to admit. "When you calm down 
enough to have a civil conversation, we can talk." She moved towards him, and 
brushed past to get back to the living room. 

He laughed in a sigh. "Civil? You want me to be civil when I'm holding 
information that could get you shot in a heartbeat? Lissi, honey, I've dealt 
with supposed Section members. The reason we never prosecuted them was because 
every time that we tried, things happened. Evidence wasn't the only thing to 
disappear. People did." 

"Yes, I want you to be civil, because you're never going to understand or 
listen to reason when you're seeing red." 

Truth be told, he wanted nothing more than to grind up the PADD into tiny 
fragments and blow them like dust. Inside he was more than irate. He was 
worried about what she was getting herself into. Taking a deep breath, Bryce 
folded his arms and propped himself up in the doorway. "I'm sorry. Now, please, 
what are you doing?" 

"It's an investigation that you should have no knowledge of." Gathering up the 
rest of the files from the table, she carried them over and locked them safely 
inside her desk. Then she moved over to Bryce and reached for the one in his 
hand. 

"Tell me." 

Realising that he wasn't going to give her the PADD back, she crossed her arms 
and leveled a very irritated gaze on him. "Have I ever demanded information 
about one of your cases? And if I did, would you give it to me?" 

There was a reason he loved her. He smirked, "Touche. However, you can't 
honestly tell me that you're dealing with official work regarding the Section. 
This is a personal pursuit. And, as your boyfriend, I would like to know what 
my darling girlfriend is getting herself into." He kept the PADD under his left 
arm, his arms still folded. 

"Bryce, you're really testing my patience here." 

"Testing your patience? Are you kidding me?" 

"Yes, I'm often full of merriment and hijinks when I'm this angry," she replied 
sarcastically. 

"Do you not trust me, Lissi?" 

"Of course I trust you. Do you think you'd be in my life at all if I didn't? 
This has nothing to do with trust. You said yourself that information was 
dangerous. Wouldn't it make more sense not to involve you if that were the 
case?" 

"Wouldn't it make more sense to involve a lawyer who knows the ins and outs of 
the laws?" Bryce shook his head, still not completely comprehending the need 
for immense secrecy. "I know you're looking at something that could quite 
possibly include Section 31. I'm as involved as I really can be." 

She paused, debating. The indecision showed in her eyes to Bryce who knew how 
to read people and especially her. 

"I will hand this PADD to you as a sign of my dedication to you and what you 
do. Just let me know what you're doing. That is all I ask." He took a step 
closer, putting himself close to her, but not too close. "Lissi, please..." 

"The less you know, the safer you are," she added, half-heartedly, wanting him 
to drop it, and yet, wanting to take him into her confidence. "But at least 
you're not telling me I'm imagining things." Elissabeth reached for the PADD 
when he offered it back to her. "Thank you." Moving over, she added that to the 
ones locked in the drawer. "I think that Kaylee has been approached by the 
Section," she said as she turned to regard him, her eyes full of concern and a 
little fear. 

"Kaylee? Why?" 

"Because of her unique abilities. Did you read her description of the people 
who came to see her? Who else could it be? And who else would want an 
impressionable super telepath that badly?" 

"I - I don't understand." 

Biting her tongue and changing her mind, Elissabeth looked up at Bryce. "Good, 
let's keep it that way." There were so many things she wanted to tell him about 
who she was and where she'd come from and why she knew the things she knew, but 
it just couldn't be. At least not right now. 

"You - you - you frustrate me!" He yelled. "Why do you insist on doing things 
by yourself when they are definitely bad choices? I don't get it. You're calm, 
cool, and collected one minute; then you're deceptive, manipulative, and 
secretive the next. What the hell is going on, Elissabeth?" 

Flinching for the moment it took to replace that facade of calm, Lissi blinked 
as each word he flung at her stung like the sand from her dream. "Ouch," she 
said simply and moved away. 

"This isn't a good idea, Lissi. But, I think you know that as well as I." 

"This isn't going to work." 

"I could've told you that. So, drop it and walk away. You still have time." 
Bryce walked across the room and embraced Lissi in a hug, kissing her hair and 
stroking it lightly. "I only want you to be safe." 

She stepped out of the embrace. "That's not what I meant. This," she gestured 
between the two of them, "isn't going to work. We all have our secrets, 
including you, and I thought we had a mutual understanding of not prying into 
each other's pasts. Or in this case, present. I'm doing what I have to do to 
protect people I love. I'm not going to have you dogging my heels and screaming 
questions and insults at me while I'm doing it." A tear trickled from the 
corner of her eye, but she refused to acknowledge it, hoping he wouldn't 
notice. 

"Lissi..." 

She shook her head. 

Bryce sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Moving to the door, he paused as 
it opened. He looked over his shoulder, trying to meet her eyes, but failing. 
"Lissi, the path you're on is a dangerous one. And, I cannot help you and 
protect you if you don't allow me to know what's going on. You're going down a 
road that I cannot follow. This can only bring you unhappiness and despair." 

"I know that. But it's a fight worth fighting." She looked away, unable to 
watch him walk out the door, knowing that he was taking the best parts of her 
with him. 

Silently, he left. The only goodbye was said by the hissing of door closing on 
their relationship.


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