<USS Avalon> guy talk

Guy Talk

by, Lt's Joshua Garrity and Patrick "Mac" McEntire

 

 

Mac all but ran to the shuttle bay after Anna left, taking Josh?s medication 
and supplements with him. 

 

Damned kid, he kept thinking along the way there. Can redraw the entire 
schematics for this ship from memory, but can?t remember to take two hypos to 
keep himself out of sickbay without help.

 

Josh sighed as yet another person entered the bay. When did this place get so 
popular? He wondered. 

 

?Joshua, you dumbass, where are you?? Mac bellowed as he moved toward the 
shuttle. Josh poked his head out then, wiping chocolate brown curls from pale 
blue eyes and gazing at his friend curiously. Was there a problem?

 

?First, you take your goddamn meds, you sorry shit.? Mac told him with a grin, 
tossing the hypo to him. ?Otherwise my dear Anna  is gonna waste all of our 
time together worrying over you instead of getting happy with me, okay?? 

 

Josh grinned slightly, as he injecting the Anacrese he?d forgotten yet again, 
then gave him a look as if to ask if that was all he wanted. 

 

?Second, you take your supplements before you die of freaking malnutrition and 
I have to find myself a new best ma?friend,? he tossed him a second hypo, which 
Josh again made use of, very nearly laughing at Mac?s mistake. ?One of these 
days you?re going to have to learn to remember this shit on your own. You can?t 
tell me you can remember the entire calibration specifications of a freaking 
Daedelus warpship but you can?t remember two freaking hypos. ?

 

Josh shrugged. Mac laughed. Somehow, he?d expected that.

 

?Third?? Josh asked quietly.

 

?Eat something, you dumb fuck.?

 

Josh laughed silently and shook his head in disbelief that Mac had come all the 
way down here just for that, but agreed, setting aside his tools and nodding 
towards his shuttle?s replicator in invitation for his friend to join him.

 

?Damned right!? Mac laughed with him, vaulting aboard. ?But?man?you gotta 
straighten out the heat and gravity shit in here for company, okay?? Figures, 
he thought. Should have known he?d turn them both up so it?d be more 
comfortable for him if it was just him aboard.

 

Josh adjusted the environment, ordered something from the replicator and sat 
cross-legged on the shuttle deck across from the pilot?s chair - the only chair 
left in the entire shuttle ? and waited. He thought perhaps once Mac had got 
his food and made himself comfortable he might get to whatever it was he was 
really there to talk about. Obviously he?d spoken to Anna, so he knew they?d 
talked about her concerns. 

 

Mac returned with his favorite lunch - ham, salami, and cheddar sandwich on a 
hoagie roll, chips, salad and milk -  then looked at Josh?s and resisted the 
urge to shake him. Three slender strips of pale cheese, four lettuce leaves, 
two tomato slices and a quarter of an avocado, each carefully regulated to 
their own part of the plate upon which they sat, not even like items touching 
one another, and the ever-present mug of hot coffee. 

 

?Josh, I said eat, not nibble. Can we get you an actual meal this time, please? 
Remember the whole ?nutritional requirement? talk Sarbo gave you? The menus he 
worked up for you? They?re in the replicator here.?

 

Josh rolled his eyes and sipped his coffee. He really didn?t feel like 
discussing it now. Time to change the subject, he decided. Before he could, Mac 
added, ?I swear I?m giving the whole menu and everything to Belle. She?ll put 
you in check.? 

 

Josh blushed brightly at the mention of her name, causing Mac to laugh. ?Oh-ho, 
why so red, Bean? You got something you wanna tell me about?? 

 

Josh shook his head, growing redder by the second. No, he didn?t think he dared 
try touching on that topic. His reticence, as normal as it was for him, only 
seemed to amuse Mac more. In self-defense he asked, ?You??

 

?Me what??  Mac asked, still grinning, as if daring Josh to share the 
conversation. 

 

Josh sighed. Mac wasn?t going to make this easy, of course. ?She was worried.?

 

?About what?? Mac played dumb, pushing Josh to share more. It was good for him, 
he thought, to have to speak. He didn?t do it nearly enough and the problems he 
had with standard weren?t going to improve if he didn?t use it more. Always 
struck him as odd that the kid could manage to speak so many other languages 
flawlessly, but the one that was supposed to be the easiest still eluded him. 

 

?You,? Josh answered at last, uncertain how exactly to explain her concerns to 
Mac. 

 

?What about me?? Mac pushed harder, nearly laughing as Josh blew out a breath 
in frustration. ?Take your time. Eat a bit. I?m in no hurry.?

 

Josh threw a piece of cheese at him, which Mac caught deftly and tossed back. 
?Eat it, don?t play with it, boy.? He winked, only half kidding. ?Tell you 
what, how about you tell me about you and Belle while you figure out how to 
explain Anna?s worries.?

 

?Do you love her?? Josh blurted out, needing for some inexplicable reason to 
know.

 

?Belle?? Mac played dumb.

 

Josh shook his head. Mac waited, pushing him to voice it, not allowing him to 
get away with mere gestures on a topic as important as this. Matters of the 
heart deserved a voice. ?Anna.? He managed at last.

 

 Mac smiled. ?Yeah.  I think I do.? 

 

Josh raised a brow. He wasn?t sure? 

 

?I do.? Mac clarified, catching the unspoken question and this time allowing 
it, as his answer struck home in all its glory and wonder. ?I really do love 
her.?

 

Josh nodded. He?d been pretty sure, given how he looked at her. How he talked 
about her. It had seemed pretty obvious, even to him. He just wondered if Mac 
realized it.

 

?What about you?? Mac countered. ?Do you love her??

 

?Anna?? Josh teased quietly, giving Mac his own back. Mac roared, throwing a 
chip at him, which Josh deftly caught and tossed back. ?Eat it?don?t play with 
it?boy?? Josh ordered only loud enough to make Mac laugh harder, appreciating 
his friends all too rare show of humor.

 

?Belle, you dumbass,? Mac countered when at last he could breathe again. He had 
to know what happened the night before. Whatever it was, it was very clear it 
had done his friend a world of good. 

 

Josh sighed. He drew a breath. He knew the answer, but now wasn?t the time, and 
Mac knew it. ?It doesn?t matter,? he responded at last.

 

?What the hell do you mean, it doesn?t matter. Josh, it matters more than 
anything else you got going on right now,? Mac looked at his friend in 
disbelief. 

 

Josh shook his head, setting his plate aside and gathering his tools back up. 
?I need to get back to work.? 

 

?Bullshit,? Mac replied, reaching over and moving the tools out of his reach, 
shoving his plate back toward him insistently. ?You?re off shift. You do not 
have to get back to work. You want to hide here in this shuttle and pretend 
shit doesn?t matter. But it does, Josh. I matters to her. Now, admit it, you 
dumbass. Do you love her or not??

 

Josh hesitated only a fraction of a second before giving a barely perceptible 
nod. Yeah. He did.

 

?I?m sorry, I don?t think I caught that,? Mac pushed, determined to hear him 
admit it out loud.

 

?Yes,? Josh answered reluctantly, really wishing Mac would let this go.

 

?Good for you! It?s about damned time.? Mac grinned. ?Does she know??

 

Josh shrugged. He?d told her, but he?d also told her why it was a bad idea.  

 

?Joshua Garrity, do you want another fight on your hands?? Mac demanded, 
determined to make good on the threat if that?s what it took to make his friend 
face his feelings. Even so, he couldn?t help but feel relieved when Josh shook 
his head no. ?Then answer the question. Does she know you love her??

 

Josh hesitated before giving the slightest of nods. She knew.

 

?Amen!? Mac grinned. ?So what are you going to do about it??

 

?What are you?? Josh asked.

 

?What am I what?? Mac asked, momentarily confused. ?You mean about Anna??

 

Josh nodded. Mac grinned. ?I already told her. I?m keeping her and only her. 
Maybe even doing it right. You know, the ring, the ceremony. Ten or twelve 
little  McEntire?s someday. So what about Belle? You keeping her?? 

 

Josh shook his head. 

 

?Why the hell not? Look, you love her, right? You admitted that.? 

 

Josh nodded.

 

?You enjoy being with her?? 

 

Again Josh nodded. 

 

?You see any little Garrity?s in the future with her??

 

This time Josh shook his head no. 

 

?Why the hell not!? Mac demanded at last.

 

?I can?t,? he answered simply, getting up and gathering his tools. 

 

Mac shook his head, snatched them quickly and dumped them out in a pile on the 
deck of the shuttle, knowing that would slow him down a little, at least. . No 
way Josh could leave them in a messy heap like that.  He wouldn?t move until 
he?d gathered them back up and put them back in their proper place. ?Why not,? 
Mac repeated as Josh began the task of reorganizing his tools, spacing them 
carefully inside the toolbelt. Josh shrugged. ?No, dammit, not good enough. 
Tell me why not.?

 

Josh thought about it. How could he explain his fears to Mac? He couldn?t. He?d 
barely managed to explain them to Belle, and he?d really wanted to with her. He 
had a job to do. One he might not make it back from, and if he did there was a 
good chance he?d come back to find that time had continued to change in his 
absence, as it seemed to be even now. He hadn?t noticed any huge things, he 
supposed. Nothing tangible.

 

Well, except the picture. The one denoting the passing of the dead...one of 
whom was no longer dead. He wondered if Keith still had the one he gave him, 
despite the fact it still sat in his sketchbook. 

 

Then it came to him. An answer that was not precisely lying, though not the 
complete truth. It was an answer that Mac would believe, whether or not he 
accepted it. ?Too messy,? he mumbled quietly as he picked up the last tool. 
Without waiting for Mac to comment further, he readjusted the environment to 
suit his comfort levels, knowing full well they were well outside the comfort 
zone for Mac that way, and returned to work.

 

Mac watched him go, frowning and fuming until, deciding at last that comfort be 
damned, he couldn?t just let it go at that, he hurried to catch up. Stepping in 
front of him, he told his friend in a voice far calmer than he felt. ?That?s 
not good enough, kid. You?re going to have to do better than that. You don?t 
get to just throw away a chance at happiness because it might be a little 
messy. Life is like that. It?s messy. You still have to live it. And you don?t 
get to do it alone.? He could see from Josh?s expression that he was being 
tuned out. He turned and left, exasperated but determined. This wasn?t over. 


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