<USS Avalon> "Tête-á-Tête"

Tête-á-Tête
Elissabeth Marksbury
and
Melanie Redgrave
 

The lack of actual duties onboard the Avalon were starting to drive Elissabeth 
stir crazy.  She was waiting on pins and needles for any word of the Captain's 
trial as well.  It had been several days since arriving at the starbase and the 
crew seemed to be enjoying the time off ship.  But something had just left 
Lissi uneasy.  She tried to chalk it up to Ketchum's trial.  But it was more 
and she knew it.  
 
Elissabeth had stopped going to the lounge in the evenings, nearly avoiding 
Bryce.  She knew that she couldn't keep it up, but she was trying anyway.  
Giving in to her restlessness, she decided to walk around the Starbase, hoping 
to catch word of the trial.  
 
There was no way Melanie was going to let a chance to shop pass her by. 
Especially when the atmosphere onboard ship was so tense because everyone was 
worried about the trial. She?d taken the day off after waking up late anyway, 
and decided to head out to the starbase to check out what they had to offer. 
She was out of fresh tea so she wanted to pick some up if they had it, she also 
wanted to find something to cheer her sister up, and maybe she?d even find 
something for Elijah.  

 
He?d been spending a lot of time in her quarters lately and she thought perhaps 
it would be nice to have something there just for him. Something a lot less 
girly. By the time she?d stumbled onto a small shop with some promising 
purchases it was well past lunch, but Melanie hadn?t noticed.  

No real news on the trial left Elissabeth a little disheartened, but she needed 
time to think anyway, and being off the ship for a slight reprieve was nice.  
There was much to think on.  And the most nagging of those things was Bryce.  
He was so... alluring, was almost the word.  She felt drawn, though truth told 
he made her a bit uneasy with how easily they connected.  How well he read her. 
 She was pretty sure he wanted to pursue a relationship with her.  Or at least 
he'd been forward and persistent enough.  But did she want that?  Did she want 
to go through all of that again?
 
Lost in her thoughts, Lissi almost walked right past the store window where 
Melanie was standing, looking at the wares.  
 
The evening jacket Melanie was fingering was nice, a deep royal blue silk with 
hand stitched piping on the hems. It was very classic, very posh, not very 
Elijah. It was more like her English up bringing that had lead her to it, but 
it was the fact that Elijah wasn?t the silk evening jacket type, and the fact 
that she liked when he walked around in just his jeans with no shirt or shoes 
on, that made her put it back.  

 
Perhaps something as simple as a place to keep his pips and comm badge would be 
just the small gesture she was looking for. Turning to head back over to where 
the small wooden jacket racks and keepsake boxes were, Melanie took a step 
forward but stopped when the room suddenly felt warm. Leaning back, Melanie 
rested on the wall behind her a moment until the lightheadedness passed. 

It was Melanie's movement that caught her attention.  Elissabeth saw her lean 
against the wall and close her eyes, and once she turned to examine her, the 
girl looked a little pale.  Thoughts dispelled, she entered the store, moving 
over to Melanie.  "Mel?  Are you okay?" 
 
Melanie took a deep breath and held it for a moment. Once her head cleared she 
let it out, opened her eyes slowly, and tried not to look completely mortified. 
"I think so," she replied rather sheepishly as she looked at Elissabeth. "I 
think my having skipped lunch to shop has caught up with me." 
 
Reaching up to touch Melanie's forehead, lightly dampened with perspiration, 
she determined the girl didn't have a fever.  "Perhaps," she said, narrowing 
her eyes slightly.  "Come on, let's go get something to eat before going back 
to the Avalon."  Elissabeth placed her hand in the center of Melanie's back as 
she led her from the store, just in case she were to fall.  
 
I?d enjoy having lunch with you, Elissabeth, but I?m ok now, really," Melanie 
told her as the other woman guided her down the deck of the promenade. She 
couldn?t help but smile as she wondered how many people got to see this side of 
Elissabeth Marksbury. The side that allowed someone to see the flicker of 
concern in her eyes that Melanie had just seen, the side that smiled rather 
crookedly when you tried to get her to talk about something personal that was 
pleasant enough to think about, the side that tried just a little less to hide 
the sadness. Melanie was sure that it wasn?t many at all, probably enough to 
count on one hand without using the thumb. 

 
Elissabeth led her to a small tea shoppe and took a table by the windows.  
"There," she said, once she'd ordered them both tea.  "You'll feel better soon, 
I'm sure." 
 
Melanie smiled and was actually glad for the chance to sit down. "As my mum 
would say, the perfect kettle of tea can make anything right as rain again." 
Her mother tended to be a very bright and upbeat thinker. "Were you able to 
find anything out about the Captain?"  
 
"It's all hush hush at this point.  I thought about asking Anthony or Skyler to 
see if they could find anything out with their rank, but I just don't think 
it's going to happen," she sighed.  "I guess all we can do is hope and wait."  
 
After the tea tray was set in the middle of the table, Melanie was actually 
surprised to see that it was a proper high tea set up. There were tiny 
sandwiches, chocolate, sugar, and butter biscuits, and even scones. A light, 
happy smile tugged at the corner of her lips for just an instant before her 
mind went back to what was going on elsewhere on the station. "What?s your gut 
telling you about all of this, Elissabeth?" 
 
"I'm very conflicted.  It felt like JAG was here trying to set Ketchum up, at 
least at first... and then I met the head of the department and I'm not so 
sure."  She tried to keep the hint of smile off her face at the mention of 
Bryce, but didn't think she succeeded.  
 
The fleeting smile that had graced Melanie?s lips a few moments before 
reappeared at the hint of a smile on her friend?s face. "So you?ve gotten to 
know this solicitor that?s been fueling the ship?s scuttlebutt?"  

"A little," Elissabeth admitted, trying to keep that damnable smirk off her 
face.  
 
Melanie watched the woman sitting across from her for a moment as she spread 
jam on her scone. By the time she set the small knife down on her plate, she 
was practically beaming at her. "You look good like that, Elissabeth." 
 
"Hmm?"  The butter was just the right temperature for spreading over the 
blueberry scone and Elissabeth took advantage of it.  She took a bite and 
smiled.  "It's real butter," she said after swallowing.  "And oh so good."  
 
"It?s real brewed tea, fresh leaves, quite good indeed," Melanie added, the 
smile never leaving her features. "It?s an odd, almost freighting, feeling to 
be infatuated with someone. Isn?t it?"  
 
"Infatuated?  What ever do you mean?"  Brow cocked with a puzzled expression, 
Elissabeth sized up her friend.  
 
Melanie laughed. "You smile, just a little, everything you think of this young 
solicitor," she informed her, just in case Elissabeth hadn?t noticed. "Your 
eyes get this little gleam in them, too. It?s the same look I use to catch in 
the mirror after I met Elijah." 
 
Lissi shook her head, "Oh, no, you don't.  You're reading way too much into 
that."  
 
"If you say so." Melanie replied, allowing her smile to fade just enough to let 
Lissi think she?d won the point. Melanie relaxed a little as she ate, allowing 
a comfortable silence to fall between them, and then after taking a sip from 
her tea cup she sat back and asked, "So what?s his name and where?d he take 
you? With Eli it was an amusement park with an old wooden rollercoastar. "

 
"Melanie!"  Elissabeth laughed and blushed just a little, then let the smile 
she'd been trying in vain to hide take over.  "Bryce, and the first time to a 
moon-lit walk along the Bay in San Francisco.  We've just spent evenings 
talking in the lounge mostly."  
 
Melanie couldn?t help but laugh as a sheepish gleam danced in her eyes. "For a 
long time sitting up and talking is all Eli and I ever did. I like having that 
foundation to fall back on." Melanie knew that tat for tat was only fair and 
since Elissabeth was willing to be open, then she should be as well. "So the 
first time was a moon-lit walk. What about the second?"  
 
"Buenos Aires.  I can't believe I let him talk me into it.  But he just... this 
is going to sound crazy, but it's like he already knows me and knows how to get 
me to go along with things."  She laughed.  "I accused him of being a 
telepath."  Talking about things definitely helped make sense about them and 
she'd almost forgotten that overwhelming feeling of unease she'd experienced 
when they parted that night.  
 
"That doesn?t sound crazy at all, Elissabeth. Not to me, anyway." Melanie 
leaned forward a little as she reached for one of the sugar biscuits. "I was 
right in the middle of the Flubb investigation, Skyler and I were still in the 
beginning our personal hurricane, and yet, with a simple bowl of chocolate ice 
cream Eli managed to get me to go to the holodeck with him and spend an hour 
not thinking of a bloody thing."  

 
The smile on Melanie?s face as she thought about the memory reached clear to 
her eyes. "They do have a way of worming their way in don?t they?"

"I really like him," she confessed to her friend.  "And kissing him was unlike 
anything I'd experienced before.  Is it strange to say something 'felt right'?" 
 Shaking her head, Elissabeth added, "I'm afraid I'm a little naive at this 
sort of stuff."  
 
"I think that we?re all a little naive at some point in a relationship. I don?t 
think it gets any better since every new relationship is so different from any 
others." It was really good to see Elissabeth happy, and it felt really good to 
know that her friend trusted her enough to be honest. "And it?s not strange. 
Eli being in my life feels right." 
 
"Is it really a relationship though?" she wondered, almost to herself.  
 
Melanie waited until the waitress had cleared the table before replying. "That 
is entirely up to you and what you want." 
 
"What if I don't know what I want?"  Elissabeth paused, unsure if she wanted to 
or even should try and explain things.  Could she trust Melanie?  She wouldn't 
meddle, would she?  
 
"If it feels right, Elissabeth, then some part of you must know what you want." 
There was a struggle going on behind Elissabeth?s eyes, so Melanie remained 
still for a few moments so she could work it out. Then she added, "Sometimes 
our heads, our pasts, our fears, they get in the way of that part that just 
sorta knows."  
 
"I suppose that it's mostly conflict over what I've known and experienced, 
compared with new feelings."  Taking a deep breath, she decided that perhaps it 
was time to actually confide in someone.  "I was close to James Maturin for 
nearly seven years before anything was ever said between us.  And we were 
close.  Even spent nights with each other.  No sexual tension, nothing.  About 
the best friend someone could have.  And then he tells me he loves me and he 
kisses me and there was just so much missing.  Emotion from our friendship, 
sure, but I was looking - hoping - for a certain spark and it just wasn't 
there."  She paused to see if her story was boring the other woman.  
 
Melanie listened carefully to what Elissabeth was saying. "I?ve had a few 
sparkless relationships," she finally replied as she poured them each another 
cup of tea. "I was starting to think that I was going to have to give in and 
settle for one of those if I wanted to be anywhere close to having someone to 
spend the rest of my life with before I was forty. So no spark with James, is 
there with Bryce?"

 
"I wouldn't call it a spark so much as... hmm, I don't know what to call it," 
she paused again, trying to think of how to proceed.  "I dated James Monroe for 
a long time and it was nothing but spark, all the time, when we weren't arguing 
over something or another.  Bryce isn't like that either."  
 
"Maybe he?s just the right balance of the two?" 
 
"That's a scary thought."  
 
Melanie smiled as reassuringly as she could. "A scary one but not an unpleasant 
one?" 
 
"I've been avoiding him," Elissabeth admitted.  
 
"Well you?ll need to knock that off if you wanna see where this goes."  Melanie 
pushed her tea cup aside. The lunch and the company had made her feel much 
better. A slow sly smile tugged at her lips as she folded her arms and laid 
them across the table. "If you don?t wanna be alone with him we could always 
double." 
 
"I don't know about that.  Everything's too new, relationship too undefined.  
I'm really not good at just letting things be, if that makes sense.  I need to 
know where we stand with each other.  It doesn't have to be in titles, but more 
in expectation.  What does he want from me, things like that.  Is it a physical 
relationship he wants?  Something closer to friendship?  Both, if it's 
possible?  I just don't know."  Looking up, embarrassed, she apologized.  "I 
shouldn't be laying this all on you, I'm sorry.  They aren't questions you can 
even try to answer."
 
"I can?t answer them, but maybe he can," Melanie offered. "And don?t apologize. 
Friends should be able to talk to each other this way."  
 
"Should, but I'm not very good at it, admittedly."  Elissabeth signaled the 
waitress and handed her a card to pay the bill.  The waitress slipped it into 
her PADD, touched a button or two and showed it to Elissabeth who nodded, then 
removed the card and gave it back.  "So, how do you feel now that you've had 
something to eat?"
 
"A lot better and more than a little embarrassed for getting caught in that 
state in the first place," Melanie admitted sheepishly as she stood. "Do me a 
favor and don?t tell Eli. The man has a tendency to fuss." She laughed as she 
walked out of the tea shoppe with Elissabeth. "Next time lunch?ll be on me. You 
got any plans for the rest of the day? I?ve only barely scratched the shopping 
surface of this station." 
 
"I won't say anything, especially since you do look much better.  Perhaps you 
should have your blood sugar checked when you get back to the ship.  If it 
happens again, promise me you will.  There's nothing to be embarrassed about, 
but you looked pretty peaked back there.  I was afraid you were going to pass 
out." 
 
"My own fault. Up late, over slept, grabbed a banana out the door." She could 
feel the light pink flush in her cheeks as she laughed at herself. "I promise 
if it happens again I?ll have Georgia run a tri-corder over me. Ok?" 
 
"Thank you.  Now, as far as shopping goes, I don't.  So, I think I'll beg to be 
excused on this one, if you don't mind," Elissabeth winked at her. 
 
Melanie was a little disappointed, but she understood that some people just 
weren?t shoppers. "Alright, but only this time. Next time we make it to Earth 
we?ll have tea at this little place in Buckinghamshire and turn the shops in 
London upside down."  
 
"I make no promises, my friend, but we'll see."  Elissabeth hugged the other 
woman and whispered, "I don't think I've ever seen you look so happy.  And I 
don't think that we could chisel that grin of Eli's face.  I'm almost jealous." 
 
 
"Good," Melanie teased as they parted from the hug. "Maybe that?ll keep you 
from hiding from mister charming JAG." Then she smiled warmly. "I have my 
sister and Georgia, Eli, and wonderful friends.. Who wouldn?t be happy?" 
 
"Just be careful, Mel.  It's when you're on top of the mountain that it's 
easiest to fall."  Elissabeth's face clouded a moment and then she smiled.  
"Don't mind me, I'm just a cynic.  Enjoy your shopping."  She waved at her as 
they went their separate ways.   



                
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