<USS Banshee> "Stronger than Steel"

From: "Brad Ruder" <groundzero@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ussbanshee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 22:42:43 -0800

?Stronger than Steel?
by Lieutenant Joshua Asper
& Ensign Telsia Ehling

The doors wouldn't open. They refused to yield entrance to the abode behind them, but it was Josh's doing that this hindrance was upon them. His finger lingered over the panel on the door for several minutes before he finally built the courage to press it. The hiss was familiar and strange at the same time, but he didn't let it bother him. Josh stepped through the doorway into the darkened quarters and looked around - no movement, no action, no life. "Telsia?" Taking another step in he saw her lying on the bed with their child in her arms.

Slowing his gait, Josh approached the doorway and leaned against the doorjamb just admiring her sleeping. A vision of perfection descended unto him and the scene faded into a surrealistic picture from a far off a land of fable and ancient lore. A smirk graced his lips and he felt so delighted to be able to call her his own, even though at the time he could not. It was the thought that counted. Taking a breath Josh laid down next to her and pushed a strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. Cameron shifted slightly and Josh ran a hand down his son's cheek. Utter perfection.

Telsia felt the added heat of another body and instinctively tried to move closer to it, knowing it was safe and familiar. It took her a few moments though to actually wake up and register that there was another body in bed with her and Cameron. Her eyes shot open and she looked across the pillow at Josh. Not exactly sure what to do but knowing she didn't want to wake up Cameron. She moved slowly and got out of bed with out disturbing her child and moved into the living room.

Damn it, Josh thought. Carefully he rolled from the safety of the mattress and moved into the sitting area following Telsia. He ran a hand through his disheveled dirty blonde hair as he watched her walk to the bay windows that looked out at the stars. Josh wanted to say something, wanted to initiate conversation, wanted to express his feelings - all he met was a wall of confusion. His eyes roamed the room for something to trigger a response. Finally, he just couldn't handle the silence; it was killing him. "Telsia, I don't know what to say. I really don't. If I did, I would, but I have no clue to how to proceed here. It's a path that is meant for two."

Sighing, she pushed her hair out of her face and turned to look at Josh. "You hurt me," she said simply. "And I know I hurt you." She stood for a moment, her arms wrapped around herself, trying to keep out the chill. "I?I want to work this out," she said softly, almost inaudibly.

"Me too, more than anything," Josh knew that it was worth taking a step in the right direction even if the entire way it'd be three steps forward and two steps back. He took a step closer to her, drawing in a breath, "things haven't been perfect since we reunited, but it doesn't matter now. You. Me. Cameron. Those are the three things that need to be together. I'm sorry that I didn't see you in Engineering, I really am. I was so focused on my work that I blocked everything else out."

"I know and that?s a very honorable ethic for working. Unfortunately, your wonderfully honorable work led to me feeling humiliated in front of my coworkers. Although, I shouldn't have blown up the way I did in front of your coworkers as well. I'm sorry." She moved towards him and tried to smile. "How do we fix this and where do we go from here?"

Joshua didn't know exactly what to do, but he felt that, it needed to be addressed more thoroughly than this. "Telsia, this can't just go away with a smirk and a shrug. If we continue to have such problems then this isn't going to make for such a wonderful relationship." Josh felt bad for taking a step away from her, but that's what he did. "I'm sorry, Telsia. It wasn't you, Telsia; it was me. I treated you badly and I deserved that slap. I don't know what else to say."

"So what are you saying?" she asked, panic beginning to well up in her. "What do you want? Do you want Cameron and I to leave and your just trying to be nice about it? If you want us to leave just tell me and I can have us packed and out of your hair fast."

"I'm not saying that," he said as he shook his head - there was a void of comprehension and he couldn't put into words what he wanted to say. "I just don't want this to happen again. I want us to know that what happened was just a fluke and that we'll control our anger and words if it ever happens again." Finally, Josh smiled and took his sweetheart in his arms, "can you promise me we won't fight again?"

She pulled back from him slightly and looked up at his face. "Josh, it's impossible to promise to never fight again but what I can promise is that when we fight again, I will talk to you and not yell at you or slap you." Tel looked up at him, worried. She only hoped that he would accept her answer. "I love you Josh, and I don't ever want to fight again."

"Good, because that hurt something fierce," Josh said with a smile before taking Telsia back into his arms. "I agree with you, I don't want to fight. It makes things seem different, changed. People look at you in an obscure light that only you can see. Plainly, it sucks."

Laughing lightly at his description, Telsia nodded her head before leaning forward and kissing him lightly on the lips. "So, are we all better now?"

"Thankfully, yes."

"Good," Tel said smiling. "I guess I need to unpack the few things I did pack." She looked down and blushed. "I was really mad at you but I didn't want to leave though."

"Did you honestly think that I was going let you leave? After all of the things we've been through, fought against, and conquered? I wouldn't let you leave this ship if you were holding a phaser at my head," Josh was smiling as he kissed her. There was a heavenly sensation in her lips, a delicate texture to the soft surface of her lips, and it was all that that bathed him in an ecstasy that he'd never experienced. "You're a keeper."

Telsia smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm glad you think so." She kissed him back deeper and longer, letting this man feel her love for him.

He swung her around, smiling and laughing before pausing at the sound of a small boy's laughter. He paused and, with Telsia, turned his gaze upon their child standing in the doorway. Josh knelt down and the small child ran into his arms. Josh stood up with the chuckling boy in his hands. Cameron reached out for his mother with a giddy playful giggle. "Let's do something for Valentines, Tel, I know the perfect program. One thing, do you like to dance?"

<USS Banshee> "Stronger than Steel"

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