<USS Banshee> "The Facade"
- From: "Brad Ruder" <groundzero@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ussbanshee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 18:07:00 -0800
“The Facade”
by Lt. Commander Joshua Asper
& Lieutenant Telsia Ehling
Walking slowly down the corridor to the quarters she shared with Josh and Cameron, Telsia felt pretty beat up. Cameron and his babysitter were playing in the holodeck when she went to get him and he was having so much fun that he didn't want to leave. So, hoping to give her child some more fun, she left him there and decided that maybe after a long hot bath she might feel better about everything. Plus, it might help her to put off talking to Josh for a bit longer.
Josh didn't know how long he'd been standing there, but it didn't matter. It was warm, comfortable, and it was nice to find a chance to relax for a change. He heard the doors to his quarters hiss open and shut again, so he stuck his head out to see Telsia. "Hey babe, I'll be out in just a second. Everything OK? Where's Cameron?"
A bit surprised to hear Josh call out to her and to hear the water running, it took a few moments for what he said to sink in. "Oh, uh I left Cameron with his baby sitter, I'm still on call and he was having fun in the holodeck," Tel moved into their bedroom and slipped her shoes off before unbuttoning her uniform shirt to reveal a tank top underneath. "And take your time in the shower, I don't need it," she said before moving back out into their living room.
"If I stay in here any longer I think I'll evaporate," Josh said, stepping out of the shower and across the doorway to grab a towel. He wrapped one around his waist and tussled his hair with the other before draping it over his naked shoulder and moving into their bedroom. "Good to know that Cameron can be entertained by people other than us. Jerrad was able to get him to laugh and wrestle a bit after the graduation - nice to see that."
"Hm, that would have been nice to see," Telsia's mumbled voice said from the other room. She hadn't really talked to Josh much about their shore leave, even though they had been apart most of the time, she just didn't feel overly interested in what happened. "That reminds me, Oridian offered to watch Cameron for us if we needed him."
Josh walked into the living room where Telsia was, the towel still across his waist, "That's great. Maybe we can steal away the holodeck some weekend and let Oridian have Cam. There are a bunch of new programs that we picked up at the last port that I've been dying to try," Josh looked at his fiancee and tilted his head. Something was wrong. "Telsia, are you all right?"
Telsia put down the book she had picked up and looked at Josh. She was about to give her generic answer and pretend everything was okay but then she imagined him with that woman again and she knew that it was going to kill her to not say anything. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask you something for a while now. Who was that woman that was with you the day we left for shore leave?"
Blind-sided. Josh looked at her, completely unaware of what she'd seen. "Uh, the woman on the promenade?"
"Yes, that one. The one that was overly flirting with you and touching your arm and the one that you seemed very content to let touch you. Yeah, that would be the one I'm talking about," all while Tel was saying this, she was able to keep a totally straight face, not letting on how much it had hurt her to see that and to be mentioning it now. She kept her voice controlled of most emotion, not wanting to get too angry and end up just in another fight with Josh.
"Oh, yeah, Ada. I met her when I was sent away from the Academy to do that Special Operation with the elite pilots of the time," he nodded, tossing some clothes onto the bed, "She was one of the attending civilians at the base we were at. She was a reporter of sorts. I was one of the youngest asked to participate so she took a liking to me and interviewed me. We became friends, kept in contact until just before you were posted on board because of her work she was doing. Just a little reunion."
Tel looked very closely at her fiancé. She wanted to believe him but there had been something about the way that woman had touched him that Tel still felt doubt lingering. "Were you guys involved or something or just friends?" Telsia wasn't sure why she had asked that question, she knew she should have just accepted his answer but for some odd reason, her mouth wasn't listening to her logic at the moment.
"We dated briefly, I guess you could say. We went to dinner a couple of times during my stay at the control center. I was there maybe a month." Josh walked into the bedroom and then walked back in, dressed in khaki pants and a black shirt. "It was all just a surreal experience being there. She's the only one I remember really."
"Ah, I see. Well I'm glad you were able to run into an old friend. I hope you guys were able to spend sometime catching up," Tel said, with a small on her face that almost looked real. She still felt uncomfortable about the situation but she believed Josh, besides, what reason would he have for lying.
"Yeah, I saw her when I went for a walk on the promenade the day before and we chatted for a bit. She has her life and I have mine. We were just saying goodbye and how much we missed cherishing old friends," Josh sat down next to Telsia, placing his hand on her knee, "Probably will be another five years before I see her again. No matter."
Moving closer to Josh and resting her head on his shoulder, Tel decided she would believe him and that she wouldn't let any stupid little bit of doubt ruin this amazing thing she had with him. "It's good that you do have some old friends that you get to run into sometimes, it must be nice."
"You can't tell me you don't have old friends."
Tel shrugged. "Not really, Eric kept me on a tight leash and always kept an eye on who I was spending time with. Besides, since our academy days, I've not really had time for friends, between juggling work, Cameron and Eric, I never had the time to really make friends. I think that's why I like the Banshee so much because I do have friends here."
"No one from the academy?" Suddenly, he was sad.
"Not really. While at you were at the academy, I spent most of my time with you and our friends but after you left and I found out I was pregnant, well you know that story. But once Eric and I started seeing each other then got married, all my friends just sort of faded away, I haven't seen any of my old friends since shortly after you left." Tel just shrugged again, it didn't seem that big a deal to her.
"You remember their names, don't you?"
Tel looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think there was Jen and maybe a Chad." She shook her head. "Nah, I don't really remember their names, I doubt I would even recognize their faces now."
"The wedding will be a great time to invite them. We can look them up on the Starfleet Academy database of alumni. I'm sure you'd recognize their faces then," Josh smiled, placing a delicate kiss on his love's cheek. "Why don't we try and get that weekend soon. As soon as this mission is over, we'll do it. Drop Cam with Oridian and we'll go. What do you say?"
Telsia had to laugh, "lets make sure we can take off that time and make sure Oridian is cool with that before we just jump into doing it but it does sound good to me."
"I'll go talk to Oridian." Josh smiled as he stood, his hand still entwined with Telsia's. "I love you."
"I love you too," Tel said, smiling up at her fiancé. Already she was feel much better then she had in a while, Captain Andros had been right, she needed to talk to Josh and now she was glad she had.
Smiling his trademark smile, Josh walked into the corridor. The doors hissed closed and his smile faded with it. He didn't like lying to her, but it was too painful to tell her. The pain in his heart and soul would go away as they got further away from that damned station. The secret would be kept.
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