[TheNoir] "Fire and Water"
- From: Lyryn Cate <wistful_fancy@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: thenoir@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2004 18:31:25 -0800 (PST)
Fire and Water
By Shane Taggart and Isabella Valentine
"You gotta stop pulling this sorta shit, li?l bit," she heard Nate say to her.
"Wasn?t my fault."
"Thought you could play the game, though. Got in over your head."
Bella woke up with Nate?s words in her mind. Not that he was actually in her
mind...she just knew him well enough to even have her sub-conscious project his
disapproval in her dreams. And he still called her li?l bit. Even though she
was twenty-four years old. Some things never change.
She turned gingerly, opening her eyes. The lights were low and she could make
out Shane standing next to the other bio bed, putting his shirt back on. He
looked like he was getting ready to leave.
"Hey," she said to get his attention.
Shane buttoned up his shirt, leaving the last one near his neck unfastened. He
smiled at her and took a step closer to the bio bed. "Hey. How are you
feelin'?" He ran a hand over her forehead as soothing as he could muster, but
he knew that there were more gentle touches out there. "Our illustrious captain
is going after our new psycho friend. Things should be cleared up as far as the
crew goes. Personally, though, well that's another story."
She smiled up at him. "I'm alright. Just tired. A little shaken maybe." She
liked the touch of Shane's hand on her head a little more than she cared to
admit. "And you must feel fine if the doc is lettin' you leave already. I'm
stuck for now and that don't set well with me." She placed her hand over her
belly and tried sitting up. It felt too weak to be lying there. She had already
been made to look weak enough lately. Her stomach was sore, but all in all,
Anais had done a good job and she didn't feel too bad. She reached for Shane to
sit down beside her. "What's a matter?"
He shrugged, but let her pull him down next to her. Shane didn't want to launch
into the rant of how he'd gotten his pride hurt and had his masculinity called
into question. "It's nothing, just a matter of honor. Don't worry about it.
And, stay here for the night. I'll be back after I make a quick errand to check
on Trey and to do something else. You'll be safe here."
"Sorry, sexy, but that ain't cuttin' it. I seem to remember a night not so long
ago of you makin' me talk about shit I didn't wanna. Your turn." She leaned her
head onto his shoulder lightly, more in a friend-like way than lover's.
"That bitch made a fool of me, Bella. It's personal. I don't give a damn
whether or not the Captain deals with it. Whatever the fuck her name is, she's
going to pay for what she did to you and what she did to me." Shane cracked his
knuckles out of habit. He cracked his neck too.
There was a hint of smile tugging at the corner of Bella?s mouth, but she knew
better than to let Shane see it. It really wasn?t funny. He was right. It was
personal. Anita had made it too personal.
"You?re right," Bella said simply. "And she got me too. Fool-wise, I mean. I
know I?m not the most stable person around, but I seem like the poster child
for a well-balanced adult compared to her. I don?t understand why she?s here,
Shane, and she scares the hell outta me." Her voice was quiet and somber, quite
unlike anything Shane had heard from her before. It was almost as if the fight
had gone out of her.
"She scares a lot of people, beautiful," Shane was at a lose for words. Never
had he ever felt scared. Anita didn't scare him, but she did pose an
interesting challenge. He was scared because he gave a damn about what Bella
was feeling. He hadn't felt like this since he was with Allea - every move that
Allea made Shane cared about. It sparked a memory, "Allea, what does that name
mean to you?" Shane had remembered Bella muttering it in her drug-induced
euphoria, but had to make sure that she had meant it on purpose.
"Uh, that was the name of the blue guy?s girlfriend, why? That was sure a
change in conversation."
"The blue guy. Did he mention what species she was?"
Bella thought about it for a moment. "No. He just thought it may have been her
in the brig. He seemed hopeful. Said something about her wanting to kill her
former lover, so I assumed that's why she'd be in the brig. I think she left
him. Why? You don't even know the blue guy."
"Former lover? Name?"
Lifting her head off his shoulder. "I don't know, Shane. Why do you care?" She
was feeling a little irritated and wasn't quite sure why.
He ran a hand through his hair, not sure if he cared to explain. She didn't
know that he was ex-Tal Shiar. Hell, she didn't know he was ex-Romulan. That
was a whole other story that he didn't feel like starting. At least not here
and not now. "Blue boy works in the engine room, right?" His mind was racing in
a million and one directions and he was losing focus. Too many shadows, too
many possibilities, too many threats.
"Are you even listening to me? Where the hell has your mind gone, Shane? 'Cause
you sure ain't here with me, anymore." Ordinarily, she probably wouldn't have
cared. But it had been a really fucked up day and Shane had been the one thing
she could count on up to that point. She was needing to lean on him for a few
minutes...and he was scaring her.
"Bella," he said calmly, though his blood was near boiling, "The engine room,
right?"
"Yeah. He works in engineering," she told him, rather annoyed. She didn't know
why she was upset. That should teach her a lesson about becoming dependent on
people.
Shane kissed her gently on the cheek, suddenly feeling as if he betrayed his
love. "I'll be back, darling, don't worry about it. This is something from my
past that I have to deal with. And, until it's dealt with, I don't want to
discuss it. You'll have to trust my judgement on this one." With that, Shane
hopped off the bed and strolled out the door. He had a new mission.
---------------------------------
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