“Making Up Is Worth
Fighting For”
by Lieutenant SG Sara Crusher
and Commander Cyanah Kaelyre
No one on the crew liked the idea of having to spend any more time then
they absolutely had to in sickbay. It didn’t matter how warm and
welcoming the staff tried to make it, it just wasn’t the place to be,
especially if you had other, much better places in mind. That’s when
the walls start to close in and the sound of the chronometer on the
wall starts to sounds like a banging gong as it ticks away the minutes
you should be spending elsewhere. So it was no great surprise that the
bed at the far end of the room, which once held a very argumentative
redhead, was now empty.
Her triumphant shift over, Cyanah was headed for sickbay. She had just
made a breakthrough that had taken her years of research to see come to
fruition. The feeling of euphoria after she’d packaged her findings and
sent them to Starfleet Science was quickly shattered when Cannon had
inadvertently delivered the news of Sara’s injury, but now that she
knew Sara would be fine, she felt mostly happy again.
The sickbay doors opened and Cyanah walked quickly across the quiet
room to Sara’s bed. She was not surprised at all to find the bed empty,
given that Sara wasn’t the type of person to lay around in a biobed all
day. Taking a moment in the quiet to reflect, she noticed one of Sara’s
hairs, starkly red against the white pillow, and brushed out at it with
her fingertips. The fight between them was already over, she felt, but
they’d never actually put an end to the argument. All feelings of anger
had evaporated when she saw her love injured on the bed, but the
conflict needed closure. Her mind was fully open to Sara again after
she’d closed it in anger, but it was oddly quiet on the other end.
“Computer, location of Dr. Sara Crusher.” She spoke quietly to avoid
disturbing anyone else in sickbay, but her voice was still a knife
cutting through the background hum of heart monitors and hypo-IVs.
The computer’s monotone voice responded just as quietly, as if it could
sense the room’s atmosphere, “Dr. Crusher is in Lt. Kaelyre’s
quarters.”
Cyanah arched an eyebrow as the corner of her mouth perked into a wry
grin. “Not so injured as I was led to believe, then,” came her
whispered reply to the computer, who did not respond. “I wonder why her
mind is so quiet.”
Sara smiled brightly as she waited for Cyanah to show up. She knew it
wouldn’t be much longer since she’d had the computer alert her the
moment Cyanah entered sickbay. She imaged the scene in her mind as she
stood and walked a few steps away from the table. Cyanah would go in,
find the empty bed, eventually ask the computer for her location, find
out Sara was in her quarters and then be surprised yet again when she
got there.
A light laugh escaped from Sara’s lips as she spun around to look at
what she’d spent weeks working on. If only she could see Cyanah’s face
when she walked into her bedroom to find, instead of her recovering
fiancée, a large gift box with a big red bow, a rose with a note, and a
very lonely looking commbadge.
Cyanah stood in her bedroom looking incredulously at the empty bed and
the objects on it. Sara’s commbadge seemed to almost taunt her as she
picked up the note, which simply said, “Holodeck 3. Wear this. ~S.”
Smirking, she briefly wondered if Sara meant to wear only the rose, but
the box beckoned her with its mysterious contents. She tugged on the
bow and untied the ribbon, and pulling the top off she found a deep
purple puddle of silk that could only be a dress. She smiled happily,
her eyes getting moist at the gift, and started to prepare as quickly
as possible so she wouldn’t leave Sara waiting.
Half an hour later, she entered holodeck three in the dress, which had
a low V-cut bodice matched by an even lower V in the back that ended in
a pool of silk. The flowing gown was slit thigh high on one side,
allowing Cyanah’s milky skin to be starkly visible next to the dark
fabric. She also wore the emerald pendant that Sara had given her on
their first Christmas together and a pair of emerald earrings that
she’d bought while in the Academy. She’d done her hair as quickly as
possible, putting it up and allowing thin tendrils of red to fall on
her cheeks to bring out the red of her lipstick. Her engagement ring
glittered on her finger as she took in the scene, holding the single
rose.
The hissing of the holodeck doors opening and closing made Sara smile
as she turned to look at the garden gate that Cyanah would soon be
walking though. She felt herself holding her breath as she listened to
the sound of Cyanah’s heels on the stone tiled path that lead from the
holodeck doors to the small private garden that Sara was waiting in.
She looked around quickly one last time to make sure everything was
just right, just the way it had been when she’d first stumbled onto
this little patch of heaven during her last year at the Academy, a
little quiet spot in the French Quarter of New Orleans, away from the
noise and fuss of Bourbon Street at Mardi Gras.
Simple strands of white lights strung from lamp post to lamp post
helped to illuminate the area where a small round cast iron table and
two matching chairs stood as center pieces on a smooth stone patio that
Sara had determined to be a perfect dance floor. The sound of a small
waterfall built into the rose covered stone wall that line the
perimeter of the garden blended in with the soft music that played from
an invisible source. The jasmine scented mid-summer southern air was
warm and gentle.
Sara smiled to herself and nodded. The place was perfect; now to check
the person. Her hair was pulled back into a French roll with two single
strands of lose hair curling along her jaw line. Her dress was simple.
Three layers of flowing black georgette with spaghetti straps, thigh
high slit, a scooping neck line and low cut back, which were covered at
the moment with a sheer black shawl.
The sound of footsteps grew closer and Sara looked up from fussing with
her dress and smiled. She let down the shield she’d had up to filter
her thoughts when she heard Cyanah call out her name, and then smiled
when the woman appeared in the gateway. “I‘m not sure which to say
first,” she said softly as she started towards Cyanah. “Happy birthday
or I’m sorry.”
Cyanah was completely taken off guard, both by the sight of Sara in
such a beautiful dress, and by what Sara had said. “Oh… wow,” she
managed to get out, placing her hand on her chest. “I’m sorry too,
love… we let that get completely out of hand.” For the moment, in her
mind, the apology was more important than her birthday.
Sara shook her head as she reached out and took hold of Cyanah’s hand.
“You were right in what you said, Cy. I do need to stand up to my
grandmother and not just say I‘m going to do it. I just wish it hadn’t
taken you shutting me out to get me to call her.”
“I’m so sorry, Sara… I shouldn’t have exploded like I did. It was a lot
of built up frustration being released, and I shouldn’t have used you
as the target.” She squeezed Sara’s hand and watched her eyes.
While the fight was happening it seemed like the worst thing in the
world to Sara, but her mother was right; they were about to spend a
very long time together and it was highly unlikely that they wouldn’t
explode at each other from time to time. It hadn’t been the fight that
had hurt Sara so much, it had been Cyanah shutting her out of her mind,
but Sara couldn’t blame her for that, she’d done the same thing when in
Ireland.
Sara smiled as best she could as she looked into Cyanah’s beautiful
eyes and with as much of a chuckle as she could muster replied simply,
“Who better to be a target when you need to blow off steam then your
fiancee, eh?”
The mood between them instantly felt lighter, and Cyanah smiled in
reply. “I suppose it’s bound to happen from time to time. Let’s just
keep it from happening too often, okay?”
“Well, ya know with two redheads in one household it might be harder
then we think,” Sara said with a brighter smile, “but I promise to try
and keep it to the bare minimum. Although,” Sara’s smile suddenly
became a lot more mischievous, “there is something to look forward to
after a fight, ya know.”
“Is this some Human or Betazoid tradition I’ve never heard of, or is
it…’making up?’”
Sara laughed out loud before leaning in and kissing Cyanah deeply as
she wrapped her arms around her lover’s back. A few long minutes later
when Sara stepped back a bit she looked at Cyanah and smiled. “What do
you think?”
“Mmmm… perhaps the occasional fight isn’t so bad after all,” Cyanah
replied, her eyelids low and relaxed. “That felt closer than ever after
being so distant.”
“It did indeed.” Sara said as she brushed one of the long strands of
Cyanah’s hair away from her eyes. Feeling a lot lighter then she had
when she’d come into the holodeck, Sara leaned in and kissed Cyanah
again quickly on the lips before moving behind her and wrapping her
arms around Cyanah’s waist. She placed her chin on Cyanah’s shoulder
and whispered in her ear, “And now with that out of the way, Miss
Kaelyre... Happy Birthday Sweetie.”
“Thank you! With your injury and all the excitement in the science lab,
I had honestly forgotten about my birthday. Thanks for remembering for
me.”
Sara beamed as she walked them towards the table in the middle of the
garden. She let go of Cyanah and poured them two glasses of champagne
and then offered one to Cyanah before turning back to the table. “Now
what kind of wife-to-be would I be if I let something as silly as a
phaser wound get in the way of celebrating your birthday?” This time
when Sara turned around she held another gift box, much smaller then
the dress box but with the same big red bow.
“Another gift?” Cyanah asked with astonishment. “This dress is more
than I’d ever hope or ask for!”
The sparkle in Cyanah’s eyes when she opened gifts always made the
moment well worth it, and Sara was glad she’d held out and waited to
give it to her. The small frosted crystal sculpture of two female
lovers in an embrace had come weeks ago from Betazed and was burning a
hole in the back of Sara’s closet. “It’s kind of a birthday and wedding
gift all in one, not that I won‘t get another present for you when our
wedding finally rolls around, but it was just too perfect not to get
for you.”
Cyanah opened the box, eyes glistening, and her face brightened when
she saw the sculpture. “It’s gorgeous! It’ll have to go right on the
end table so the lamp will play light off it. Thank you!” She drew Sara
into a long hug and grateful kiss.
Sara was fully enjoying the kiss and had totally melted into Cyanah’s
arms, so when the kiss ended she was more then a little reluctant to
let go of their embrace. Instead she placed the gift box and sculpture
on the table and just said, “Dance with me.”
After getting a gentle nod and a warm smile from Cyanah, Sara moved
them away from the table and into a clear part of the patio. The soft,
sultry, romantic melodies of the jazz music Sara had picked out to
match their New Orleans setting seemed to get slightly louder as the
two women fell into step with one another.
Sara sighed with pleasure. The feeling of Cyanah’s breath on her neck,
the way they fit into each other’s arms so perfectly, the fact they
could feel the other’s heart beating, it was all more intoxicating then
the champagne to Sara.
Cyanah easily fell into the motion of the Terran dance, having been
taught Delosian formal dancing since childhood. She let the smooth jazz
tones guide her movements with Sara, finding the rhythm naturally, as
music had a tendency to be a universal language. The scent of primrose
wafted from Sara’s hair, the smell of her herbal shampoo, and Cyanah
reflected on how much she had missed even that little detail.
They danced well into the night, only pausing for dinner, before
retiring to one of their quarters; it didn’t matter whose as the two
separate spaces had already become blended, much as their lives had.
The two nights spent apart were quickly forgotten as lovemaking added
to the intoxication of champagne and dancing, then gave way to the warm
serene high of falling asleep in the arms of a lover.
