[ussgeorgetown] "Mon Matin En Mai"
- From: Elizabeth Bethell <ejbethell@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: ussgeorgetown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 20:09:13 +0100
Mon Matin En Mai
*by Jassa Kost and Vincent and Elspeth Aigremont*
The lights were dimmed in her quarters when she got back after her shift.
She stepped inside quietly, not knowing whether he was still there or, if he
was, whether he was awake or not. "Vincent?"
Slipping his arms around her waist, he nuzzled against her neck. "Yes? What
can I do for you this evening?"
Jassa felt her whole self just melt at his embrace. She turned in his
embrace to wrap her arms around him. Pressing her cheek to his chest, she
said, "You don't have to do anything. I was afraid you wouldn't still be
here."
"I promised, didn't I?" Vincent said as he lifted her chin and kissed her.
"I made us dinner. I am afraid that the only accompaniment that I have
access to is synthahol," he said with embarrassment.
"Yes, you did promise but..." Something flickered across her eyes and she
hugged him even tighter. "I'm glad you're still here and you're a
sweetheart. I don't care if it's synthahol or not. Nobody's ever made me
dinner before."
"You jest, of course. It is a sin that no one has ever made such a beautiful
woman dinner. Let me rectify that now." Turning her gently round, he led
them into the dining area where a table was laid for two with three white
pillar candles lit upon it and a single red rose lay across one of the
settings. In the centre was a casserole dish, still covered, and a pair of
crystal glasses stood at attention, guarding the placemats. Pulling out her
chair, Vincent guided her to her seat. He poured them each a glass of ruby
wine before unlidding the food with a flourish. "Coq au vin," he said as he
dished it up for her and then for himself. "Enjoy."
"It's...beautiful," she said softly. She almost felt tears in her eyes,
overwhelmed that he did all of that for her. She reached to touch his
freshly shaven cheek with the back of her hand. "Thank you, Vincent." She
took a slow taste of the dish and her smile spread. "It's wonderful! You're
a genius."
"Oui, but I don't like to brag about it too much," he winked at her as he
watched her eat, taking only very small bites himself. "How was your day,
mon amour?"
Jassa bit back a giggle at his comment. She hadn't eaten all shift and such
a fine dinner was a welcome change from the replicated stuff she would have
gotten otherwise. She smiled at him as she ate. "Quiet, thankfully. I got to
review that PADD a bit and had some visitors." She reached to run her hand
up his arm, relishing the feel of the green silk and the strong arm
underneath. "Chief Ecitsuj says you're not a bad person but that I ought to
be careful."
"Careful?" He furrowed his brow in confusion. "I have been known to be a
little arrogant, I suppose, but I will not hurt you." Staring deep into her
eyes, he prayed that she believed him. "I swear to you that..."
He was cut short by the chime sounding so he held his tongue but his cheeks
flushed as he sat back and took a sip of his wine.
"He wasn't talking about you," Jassa said as she got up. She looked into
those brown eyes that held such a spark of romance and passion then kissed
him lightly. "He was referring to...your wife..." She hated to even say that
but there was no other way to put it. "Let me get the door. I'll be right
back."
She undid the manual lock and nearly gasped when she saw who was standing
there.
Elspeth tried to smile at the young woman stood before her. She covered her
shock by trying to see past her and into the quarters. "The computer said
that Sergeant Major Aigremont is here, could you tell him that his wife is
here to see him?"
Swiveling in his seat, Vincent stared open-mouthed at the voice that came
from the hallway. "Elspeth, what are you doing here?" he said as he moved up
beside Jassa, placing a reassuring hand on the small of her back.
"Can we talk? We need to talk." Glaring at Jassa, Elspeth added, "Alone."
Jassa froze. The smile Elspeth had originally given wasn't warm by anyone's
standards. She knew this might happen sooner or later but she had hoped
later. She relaxed slightly at the feel of Vincent's gentle touch.
"You can't come in here, Mrs. Aigremont. These are my quarters and we're
having a lovely dinner," she said quietly.
"A lovely dinner?" Elspeth sneered as she raised an eyebrow at Vincent.
"What did you make her? Coq au vin?" At the brief flicker of shock on his
face, she laughed. "Oh, don't tell me, you even have candles and a rose."
Wistfully, she added, "Three white pillar candles and a red rose. It's real,
you know. He has a friend in hydroponics and they grow them together."
"Oui," Vincent said sadly. "It's always such a pity to find it in the bin
the next morning when you tire of seeing such beauty in your life, Elspeth."
"Well," she said with a leer, "I can see that you've decided to fill your
life with *beauty*. Though I never thought you'd go for an *alien*."
Jassa's face blanched. Nobody had ever spoken to her that way, not since
she'd enlisted eight years before. She glanced over her shoulder at the
rose. It was so pretty, so fragrant. "There are no aliens in Starfleet, Mrs,
Aigremont. We're all part of the same organization. I think you need to
leave," she finally said, her voice trembling slightly.
Elspeth brought her nose to within an inch of Jassa's. "I'm human, he's
human, you're not. At least I don't have to have a parasite in me to make me
whole," she growled.
"Elspeth! That's enough. You will keep a civil tongue in your mouth,"
Vincent spat. Wrapping strong hands around Jassa's arms, he pulled her
against him and kissed the side of her head, defying Elspeth to say
anything.
"You make me sick," Elspeth said. Looking at Jassa, she added, "Have you
ever heard of a thing that we humans call a mid-life crisis? Because, for
Vincent, you're it."
Jassa was still trembling, despite the warm reassurance of Vincent's kiss.
She couldn't back away but she wasn't sure she wanted to.
"I don't have a symbiont, Mrs. Aigremont, and I never wanted one. I don't
need one to make me feel alive," she said coolly, smiling wistfully up at
Vincent. She turned back to look at Elspeth. "You're the one with the
parasite in you and it's eaten up every part of you that might have been
kind and good." She shook her head, hating to say unkind words but she tried
to temper her response. Vincent's hands were still warm around her arms.
"Maybe you're the one that's having a crisis and you've made everyone else
suffer for it. Leave us alone please."
"Silly little girl," Elspeth said sadly. "He'll come back to me on his
knees, begging me to take him back and he'll forget about you. You're
nothing and you know it." Holding up a hand to silence Vincent's angry
response. "But I'm going and I won't be back. Send him to his quarters when
you tire of him." With that, she turned around and walked off.
"Merde!" Vincent's fury was a physical ache in his head. His fingers dug
into Jassa's arms as he pulled her back into her cabin.
Jassa disengaged herself from Vincent's grip and guided him toward the couch
in the living area. Her own hands were shaking as she brought back a glass
of water from the replicator. The fury on his face was palpable and she held
the glass out to him, even as she brushed his hair back.
"Drink this," she said softly. "It's only water but it will cool you down."
Taking the glass, he hung his head and stared at the floor, ignoring the
water completely. "Je suis désolé, ma petite. Je ne comprend pas, je suis
très très désolé." He couldn't look at her as salty, warm tears gathered in
his eyes.
Jassa was still shaking but she tried to control it. That wonderful passion
that she so adored in Vincent was showing itself in a different form. She
was smaller than him, certainly, but she put an arm around him to comfort
him.
"I'm sorry, Vincent, but I don't understand the language. Please tell me?"
she asked in that same soft voice, even as her hand gently rubbed his arm.
"Sorry, petite, I forget sometimes. I said that I'm sorry, that I don't
understand. I have never seen her that spiteful, I never knew she was
capable of it. Even given the situation, there was a time when she would
have had at least a little compassion in her. And the way she spoke to
you..." With sudden violence, he threw the glass across the room, his eyes
blazing. "Racism, blatant and cruel!"
Jassa gasped in shock and grabbed at his hands. Still holding onto them, she
moved to kneel in front of him. She looked up into those blazing. "Yes, it
was," she found herself agreeing. "Nobody's ever spoken to me that way
before but here you are apologizing for her when you don't have to." She
held both his hands to her lips and kissed them softly. "I told you in Ten
Forward that you didn't do anything wrong. Don't apologize for her. Don't
apologize for speaking that lovely language either. It's...warm and
beautiful."
"Like you." Her hands on his calmed him and he closed his eyes, sighing and
sitting back. He drew her up to sit next to him. "My May morning," he said
as he kissed her. "You are so sweet, I hate that she has done this to you,
or made me this angry in front of you." Glancing at the scattered broken
glass, he flinched. "It shames me."
"You know, my mother always said that if you loved someone, you loved them
completely," Jassa told him as she looked up at him. She winced when she saw
the evidence of tears still in his eyes. "Don't be ashamed of honest
feeling. Maybe I am just a silly girl but I find it a rare and special thing
to find a man so honest, so passionate." She smiled and held a cool hand to
his face. "That he's a handsome gentleman is just a bonus."
"Do you think there is any way that we can salvage our dinner?" he asked
shyly, his cheeks flushing with her compliment.
Jassa's nose wrinkled. "I think you'd be the better judge of that," she said
as she managed a weak smile. She could feel herself trembling slightly and
she leaned into him, seeking the strength of his support.
Pulling her close, Vincent wrapped both of his arms around her and lifted
her onto his lap. He kissed the side of her head, squeezing her closer,
feeling her shaking against his body. "What's wrong?"
"I've really never had anybody talk to me that way before," she murmured,
leaning her head on his chest. "Not even in my NCO training school and you
know how bad people can be. I think that's the first time I've ever actually
wanted to hit somebody." She moved to head to sort of look up at him,
inhaling the scent of his skin. "I'm sorry about that..."
"Why, ma petite? I have never felt so aggressive towards my wife. I would
never hurt a woman, but if you had not been there, mon amour, I don't think
I would have been able to control myself." Vincent had started to shake with
anger again so he kissed her temple very deliberately.
"Why? Because you might be mad as hell at her and things might never be the
same again but she's still been a part of your life for a long time and all
of it couldn't be bad. For that part, I'm sorry," Jassa told him. She
reached to kiss his cheek, rubbing her own against the now shaven skin.
"You're so handsome..."
Holding out his left hand, he showed her the empty place where his wedding
band had been up until that morning when he'd woken up in Jassa's bed. "Let
me tell you something, please do not get upset by it, none of it is your
fault. When I married her, I made a solemn pact with myself that the day
that I cheated on her was the day it was over. And not because of the act
itself but because on that day there would be nothing left of the marriage I
held so dear. I love my wife and I miss her greatly but that woman is not
her and hasn't been for many years now. We came to Georgetown because it is
a family ship in the hopes that if she could work with the children then we
could salvage what was left of our love but..."
He shook his head, a final tear tracking down his face. "But it made her
worse, her bitterness and resentment grew. I cannot love that person, I've
tried, believe me. I even thought I wanted to until you. And then there you
were, a light in my darkest melancholy. My May morning."
Jassa had been looking down at his hand, one finger gently rubbing the spot
where it was obvious that a ring had been for quite some time. It couldn't
have been less than a ship's day since he'd turned her whole world around
yet she knew it was so. She doubted it was infatuation though. Not even
Torias had ever managed to make her feel so loved and wanted. She let the
finger that had been touching the bare spot on his left fourth finger reach
to wipe away the traces of tears on his face.
"Do you still want children?" she asked, letting her fingers stroke his
cheeks, seeking to settle that Gallic anger.
"Oui, but I am too old now, don't you think?" he said sadly, sighing under
her touch.
"Hardly," Jassa said as she traced the line of his jaw. "You are barely
middle aged for a Human, Vincent. I don't know exactly how old he is but Dr.
Kaartaren told me that he's twenty years older than Ensign DeAngelo and
they're expecting." She felt herself blush. *Jassa, you can't blame this on
the cognac any more*. "Maybe I better just shut up."
"Pourquoi? What are you trying to say?" Kissing her cheek, he turned her to
look into her eyes.
She looked into his eyes and didn't look away. It wasn't that she was the
shy, retiring sort but she found that her thoughts were incredibly bold and
maybe a bit crazy. "Stay here? Permanently? I want you. I could never tire
of you."
It was all moving so fast, he felt as if he was being carried away on the
flow of violent river rapids with no time to think. "Oui," he laughed
joyfully for the first time since Elspeth had visited them. "Yes, I'll stay,
I want to, mon dieu, I need to."
Jassa threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. She couldn't
hold back a bubbling laugh as she finally let go of him. Her eyes were
fairly dancing and she kissed him soundly. "I know some people are going to
talk, say we're crazy, but do know what? I don't care. I love you, Vincent."
Wrapping his hands around the back of her head, he pulled her into a
passionate kiss. "Je t'aime, ma petite," he breathed over her lips. "I love
you."
*Note:* The title of this log means My May Morning
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