<USS Avalon> "Weathering the Storm"

Weathering the Storm
Senior Lieutenant Melanie Redgrave
and Junior Lieutenant Elijah Dareth


Oh, boy, Elijah thought as he looked in the mirror one last time. He made sure 
to get off work on time today because he'd missed being with Melanie the day 
before... when Stephanie kissed him. I gotta tell her, but it's gonna hurt her. 
Shaking his head, he headed out the door and to Melanie's quarters, nervous 
flutters in his stomach. 

Melanie sat at her desk working on the files she?d brought home with her. She?d 
been working from her quarters for most of the day because she couldn?t stand 
the looks she was getting from Pauly and Marge. She knew she was hiding, but at 
this point she didn?t care. She knew she needed to talk to Elijah, but she 
didn?t know how. When her door chime sounded Melanie actually jumped. Pausing a 
moment to rein herself in, Melanie didn?t bother getting up from her desk as 
she called out as if she were in her office. "Enter."

"Hey, sweetheart," he smiled as he entered and moved over to the desk, placing 
his hands on her shoulders. Elijah leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. 
"I'm sorry about yesterday. I missed you." Boy, did I ever. 

"Sure you did," Melanie replied coldly as she picked up another padd. For a 
moment, when he?d called her sweetheart, Melanie thought she?d turn into that 
weepy waif of a girl she?d been with Elissabeth. She didn?t have the energy to 
be that pathetic. 

Standing up immediately, Elijah was surprised, "Woah. I did. I got trapped last 
night." In more ways than one. "Believe me, I'd have rather been here than 
anywhere else." 

Getting out of her desk chair, Melanie made her way across the room. She needed 
distance between them. Feeling his warmth so close, smelling his cologne, 
having him touch her, it clouded her senses and took away the edge to her 
anger. With her back to Elijah, Melanie picked up the camera she?d set on her 
dinner table the night before. "I?m sure you found ways of making your shift 
bearable." 

He shrugged, turning to face her, "It was work. Logging reports, updating 
things. Nothing special." Moving towards her, he asked, "Mel, baby, what's 
wrong?" 

Her eyes burned with tears that Melanie refused to shed. She moved further away 
from him before turning to finally face him. "Would you please stop acting so 
bloody, sodding sweet!"

"Uh... okay. I'm at a loss," he said, dropping his shoulders. "I needed to talk 
to you about something, but I didn't want you already all upset because you're 
gonna be even madder when I tell you. I guess I can come back later." He moved 
towards the door. "I love you, Melanie." 

"Going back to the office to see if that sodding redhead?ll buy the ?poor me? 
act?" Melanie spat coldly, her accent thick, and a bright fire burning in her 
eyes behind the sheen of tears. 

Her words stopped Elijah dead in his tracks, an icy chill running over his body 
that left his cheeks burning. He turned and looked at her. "That's what I 
wanted to talk to you about, but somehow you already know, I take it." 

Before Melanie could think, the camera in her hand was sailing through the air. 
Whether she meant to aim for his head she wasn?t really sure. She wasn?t sure 
about anything at the moment. She wasn?t even sure she was still breathing. 

Eli jerked as he caught the camera inches from his face. "Well, now," he said 
calmly, "that was demonstrative." 

"Bugger off!" Melanie spat as the pools of wetness in her eyes continued to 
well. She?d be damned if she?d cry again. All she wanted was to be angry but 
she knew she had to push past that because she also wanted to know the truth. 
After taking a deep breath, Melanie looked at Elijah coldly. "Don?t you Yanks 
have a saying about a picture being worth a thousand words?" She looked at the 
camera in Elijah?s hands. "You really should learn to close your office door."

"I had no reason to have my office door closed, Melanie. Not on my part." He 
was pretty sure of what was on the camera, but cued the image anyway. Sure 
enough. Fuck it all. "This is what I wanted to talk to you about, but I can't 
imagine you wanting to listen to anything I have to say right now." 

Melanie crossed her arms under her breasts and looked Elijah in the nose. "Were 
you planning on feeding me the lines the little gobshite told you to hand me if 
you two got busted?"

"God, Melanie, what do you want me to say? I'm sorry that it happened. More 
than anything, I'm sorry that I didn't back towards the door instead of the 
wall where she could corner me." 

What the hell was he mad about? She wasn?t the one out there kissing other 
blokes. She?s the one who had to have one of her subordinates throw visual 
evidence of the only man she?d ever seen herself spending her life with kissing 
another woman, in her face. "I want you to tell me how you can say you love me 
and then let that happen! And why do you have a right to be getting pissed? You 
hurt me, not the other way around!"

"I'm pissed because I didn't do anything wrong and you won't stop yelling at me 
long enough to listen to that! I didn't kiss her, she kissed me! I didn't want 
to, Melanie. I got up. I moved." He sighed, "But you're too angry to listen to 
that right now, so I'll just go." 

Melanie flinched and couldn?t stop herself from looking as she?d been hit when 
Elijah said he was going. "Fine! If you wanna leave then fucking leave!" 

"I don't want to fucking leave, Melanie! I want to stay here and work things 
out with you and hold you and let you know that I don't give a shit about 
Stephanie because you're the only girl I ever want to look at for the rest of 
my life, but for God's sake, you're throwing things at me!" 

"I..." Melanie hissed but then stopped. She had thrown something at him and had 
wanted it to hit him in the head. With less of a chill in her voice Melanie 
walked over and lowered herself onto the arm of her couch. "I tend to throw 
things when I?m upset." 

"I noticed," he said, with a small smile. "Melanie, I know it looks bad, but I 
came here to talk to you about what happened. I love you. Only you." 

The damn broke with those last words. Huge tears of anger, pain, and fear fell 
and Melanie was hopeless to stop them. "Then talk," she said quietly. 

He sighed, wanting to go wrap her in a big hug, but was afraid of her reaction. 
"We were working late and... Stephanie sorta came onto me." He blushed and 
looked down like a school boy. "I know it sounds silly. Why would anyone, 
right? But I swear it's true. She was very... persistent. I got up and moved. 
Kinda let myself get backed into the wall. She thought that I was protesting 
because I was too nice to cheat on you. But she was wrong. I was protesting 
because I don't want anyone but you, Mel. Look at the picture," he added 
softly. Where are my hands, sweetheart?" 

The picture was burned into her memory like a brand on the hip of heifer. Where 
were his hands? They weren?t wrapped around the little gobshite the way they 
wrapped around her when he kissed her. They almost looked as if he were trying 
to push her away. "How could you have let it happen?" She asked instead of 
giving him his point.

"Cause I'm stupid and naive and didn't see it coming? I'm sorry, honey, I would 
give anything to go back and change things." He moved over to her an knelt in 
the floor in front of her. "Is there any way you can forgive me?" 

"I want to," Melanie replied softly. "But I?m still really angry and really 
hurt, Elijah."

"I know." He sighed and looked away, then back at her again. "And I'm really, 
really sorry. You know the last thing I ever wanted to do is hurt you. Or at 
least I hope you do." After a moment's pause, he added, "If you need me to go, 
then I will. If you need time, then," he swallowed a lump in his throat, "then 
I understand."

Melanie wasn?t sure what to do. She needed a little time to think, but she knew 
pushing him out the door wasn?t going to help anything. The one constant 
thought she?d had over the last twenty-four hours was that she wanted this 
thing between them to be long term, which meant neither one could run away when 
things got rough. "I need a shower before dinner." Without another word and 
hardly a look back, Melanie made her way into her bedroom. 

Brow furrowing, Eli sat back on his heels. Okay, what now? Does she want me to 
stay? Or go? Damn you, Eli, and you're stupid naivety! He finally stood and 
moved to sit on the sofa to wait patiently, unsure if that was the right thing 
to do. You could never tell with any woman. But, he figured that it couldn't 
hurt. If she wanted to yell at him to leave, she could. And, so there he sat, 
waiting. 

Had she seen what kind of man he really was? Isn?t that what Elissabeth said 
she needed to find out? Hadn?t she known already? He told her the truth and was 
up front and he?d answered her questions even though they?d been screamed at 
him. He did try to leave though. Twice he was going to walk out just because 
she was upset and yelling. Melanie sighed as she stepped out of the shower. She 
believed him, that the little gobshite had kissed him, but could even her sweet 
simple Elijah be that blindly stupid? 



For a moment, as she stood in front of her closet, Melanie thought about 
walking back out into the living room in nothing but that dress shirt she?d had 
on last week. The one that made it hard for him not to look at her, that made 
his pulse race and his palms sweat. Would it be wrong to test him that way? To 
push him into doing something that goes against his personal ethics? 



Coming out of her bedroom dressed in her favorite jeans and her Man. U. jersey 
shirt, she was actually surprised to see Elijah sitting on her couch. "You 
stayed?" 

"Yes. I... was afraid to leave," he said, looking at her. "I was afraid if I 
walked out the door, I'd never get to come back." 

Melanie nodded, although she wasn?t sure why. She stood there a moment not sure 
what to say or do. Why was loving someone like this so hard? "I?m sorry I threw 
the camera at you." And I?m glad you stayed. 

"It's okay. I deserved it." 

"You really can?t keep being so... little boyish.... about some things, Eli..." 
Melanie said softly as she padded over to the couch and sat near him. Shaking 
her head she added. "If we?re going to make it we both need to be more grown-up 
about things."

He looked at her, rather astonished. "I beg your pardon? Little boyish? If I 
were acting immature, Melanie, I would've pitched a fit and walked out of here 
angry while you were screaming and throwing things at me." Calm down, Eli. 
You're gonna blow it all. Exhaling loudly, he continued, "I am sorry about what 
happened and even more sorry that you got hurt in the deal, but you know what? 
I don't exactly deserve how you treated me either. I could've cheated on you. I 
had the opportunity and I didn't. And apparently that doesn't count for 
anything because I'm being treated like I did." His face was red and he was 
angry, trying to fight the urge to leave. 

Melanie sighed as she curled into the end of the couch. "I was referring to you 
not seeing that the little gobshite," which is how Stephanie Cruz would forever 
be referred. "was attracted to you. She isn?t going to be the last one to try 
and I?d like to know that you?re going to be able to see it next time so I 
don?t have to go around threatening to rip every hair off every woman you work 
with."

"I'm sorry that I'm too naive for you." 

"I didn?t mean it that way!" Melanie yelled without meaning to.

"Then what did you mean? I'm obviously too stupid to get it, because I don't 
like to think of the alternative, which is that you're jealous because you're 
insecure. I fuckin' adore you, Melanie Redgrave, and I've done my damnedest to 
prove it. Which just isn't good enough." He looked away as the tear escaped 
from his eye. 

Melanie opened her mouth to yell back but nothing came out. Getting up from the 
couch she walked over to the window and looked out at the stars for a moment. 
"Why aren?t I allowed to have insecurities?" she asked softly. "Why can?t I be 
the scared little girl I feel like sometimes?" 

Elijah moved over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his 
face in her hair. "You can have all the insecurities you want, honey, just talk 
about them with me. You can be weak and scared and I?ll take care of you, but 
you can?t hide it from me. If we're gonna make a go of this, like I think both 
of us want, then we have to trust each other." He sighed and pulled her 
tighter. "You think I don't see the way Pauly looks at you? I don't like it, 
but I know you'd never..." Elijah swallowed. "I love you. And that may not mean 
something to a lot of people but it means something to me, sweetheart. It means 
you have my heart. All of it. There's no room for anyone else." 

"Love changes," Melanie said softly as she leaned into Elijah?s embrace as she 
continued to look out the small window. "One minute you?re lovers hopelessly in 
love with each other and the next you?re simply friends who love each other. I 
was afraid it had changed with us. That you..." Melanie couldn?t say it. She?d 
turned back into that waif she?d been with Elissabeth again. "I do trust you, 
love, really."

"No, nothing changed. And the only change I plan on happening to our love for 
each other is for it to grow, become more intense, to allow us to be the best 
of friends. And still in love." He turned her to face him and tipped her chin 
up with his index finger. "I'm in love with you, Melanie. And that's not gonna 
change."

Melanie didn?t answer him, she simply leaned up and kissed him. It was a soft 
brush of her lips to his at first, but then quickly became more. It was 
passionate, hungry, wanting, and hopeful. It was also hard to pull away from, 
but she wouldn?t push. "I love you so much it scares the hell out of me 
sometimes, Eli." 

Elijah knew at that moment that this was the girl he wanted to spend the rest 
of his life with, temper to throw things and all. Too soon, a voice whispered 
inside his head. It may be too soon to ask, but it wasn't too soon to commit in 
his heart. Looking into her eyes, Eli slid his hand down the side of her face, 
cherishing her. He leaned down and returned the kiss full of eagerness and 
passion, pulling her to him tightly. 

She could feel her heart racing, her pulse quicken, and her knees go weak. 
Again it was more than a little difficult to stop the progression of the kiss. 
Breathlessly, Melanie pulled back a little, placing her hands on his chest to 
keep herself upright. "God it?s getting bloody hard to stop when you kiss me 
that way, love."

"Then don't stop," he whispered over her lips as he brought his mouth down on 
hers once again. 

Melanie?s eyes went wide as she again pushed back from him a little. "But Eli, 
you don?t... didn?t want to... you wanted to wait.." 

Dropping his head, he apologised. "I shouldn't have said or done that. It's not 
showing you much respect, is it?" 

Lifting his head so he could look at her, Melanie smiled at him. "You?ve been 
nothing but respectful to me, love. I want to make love to you Eli, I just 
don?t want to push you into anything that goes against what you believe in. 
I?ve told you that before. I?m still willing to wait."

"Melanie, I wasn't sure until just a moment ago, but now that I know you're the 
one I want to spend the rest of my life with... the commitment is there, 
sweetheart." 

Melanie looked at him for a long moment before asking, "Are you completely, 
with out any doubts, sure?"

Smirking, Eli couldn't resist, "No, I just wanna get in your pants." He 
sobered, then leaned down and kissed her passionately once again before she 
could get angry for teasing her. His desires weren't in the least diminished. 
Not breaking their kiss, Eli picked her up, cradling her in his arms. 
"Completely," he mumbled as he navigated his way to her bedroom.


                
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