JDL | Cmdr Waterhouse & LtJg Black | "Pictures In Her Mind Arose, And Began To Breathe."

Posted on Fri Jan 9th, 2015 @ 11:53am by Commander Amelia Waterhouse & Lieutenant JG Teá Black

2,464 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: A Spot To Kill

Last night was very very good for Teá it allowed her to reconnect with one of very few true friends. Now it was the tough part or it was just her over thinking and psyching herself out; which she never did, then again it was never dealing with people she truly cared about and truly respected. Setting her Drava tea down she tapped a couple of buttons to set-up a secure channel with the Vindi's XO commander Amelia Waterhouse.

The com screen in the hotel room chimed at her, and Amelia grumbled as she pulled her pillow over her head. She was on leave, she didn't really care who was calling. When it continued to chime — persistently, obnoxiously — Amelia threw her pillow at it. It continued, so she grumbled, blindly grabbed for the bathrobe she left on the foot of the bed in case of room service or a visitor, and stumbled over to the desk where the screen sat. She landed in the chair as she tied the robe shut and hit the accept button without looking at who it was. She half expected it to be Sean as she ran her fingers back through her hair to try to settle the bed head.

"Commander," Teá said with a straight and professional expression deciding this would be the best way to approach this.

"Lieutenant," Amelia returned with only a moment's pause to remember what rank she remembered Teá being. She hid a yawn behind the back of her hand as she shifted to get more comfortable in the chair. A glance at the chronometer in the bottom corner of the screen showed 1108, local time, and the call originating from San Francisco, which meant it was just past eight in the morning out there. Amelia shook her head, and glanced down to see the pavement rash still on her leg. She'll have to grab the regenerator after the call. "What's up?"

Teá sighed, "sorry I didn't mean to wake you. But I was hoping to chat with you about my future."

"It's fine, I was bound to wake up on the wrong side of the bed after last night anyways," Amelia dismissed. "Let me grab some water so I can make some tea though. Feel free to start talking, I'll be listening even if I'm out of view." Amelia stood up, and eyed the jinky coffee pot in the room, then made a bee line for the replicator. At least this place made concessions to the present where they made such efforts to be antiquated because it was cute. Annoying they still charged the room for each use of the replicator.

"As you know I've been in counseling with the person you recommended and I've made some tremendous strides and he believes that I'm ready to get back onto an assignment." Teá said taking a sip of her tea before speaking again, "and I was hoping it could be on the Vindi."

"You're not running with the jarheads anymore, are you?" Amelia called as she fought with the hotel replicator to spit out a mug or tea cup of boiling water. It beeped at her, and she hit the controls with the heel of her hand. "Because I think we're finally getting a fumigation team through the barracks to get the stench out." She smirked at her teasing, and the replicator finally spit out a mug with hot water. She made a face as the mug was one of those touristy 'I heart NY' things, but it would suffice for tea. She returned to the desk with the com screen.

"Nope. Fully intel again and that's what I was hoping to be put into if I'm cleared to re-join the Vindi crew." Teá said looking at the mug and looking back at Pond, "interesting mug." She added with a smirk.

"My uncle Spiegel would disown me if he saw me touching this mug," Amelia grumbled, setting it down on the desk. She reached for a little blue tin that had the nice friendly words 'POLICE CALL BOX' across the top on all four sides, and popped it open. Inside a tea ball and loose leaf tea, the latter of which Amelia half filled the former with, then dropped into the mug. "But tea is life, and sometimes sacrifices must be made." She nodded her head solemnly. "Sean's made mention of your progress in passing, and I'm glad to hear it from you too. Go ahead and send in your paperwork, and I'll see that Commander Archer gets a look at it. As you know, Intel operates along side the command staff on starships, not below it, so the best I can do is attach a recommendation to your file... provided you are completely open about your history and the state of your therapy. Archer's probably seen most of the information, since you were on Vindi before, but it's best to be up front just in case."

"Of course I can have that over to you by the afternoon. And I understand the process and I appreciate the recommendation." Teá said setting her cup down, "and of course I'll be completely honest with him about my past work and personal if need be."

"He's always running off on this project or that, we hardly see him around the ship sometimes, so it probably won't hurt to get him some help anyways. He did just get himself some fresh meat, an Ensign Barnes. She seems eager to please, but very much green around the edges still." Amelia picked up the mug, a small shake of her head at the hotel's sick sense of humor — or pandering to the tourism board, who knows — and held it under her nose. "We've all been there. Though you'd think I was a dragon, with how she was forcing her smile and giving me text book responses when I just tried to make small talk." Amelia snorted.

Teá smirked remembering a few of those in her class, "well maybe that's how she disarms people or infuriates them enough that they slip up."

"Well, she's an encryption specialist, and that's kinda my thing, you know? I thought it would be nice to have a conversation about a common subject of interest, and she seemed to just clam up instead." Amelia slumped in the chair with a frown. "It may just be my parents being fleet, and my growing up around these sorts of people, but I just don't get why people get so uptight around the higher ranks. We're people too." She grabbed the little chain from the tea ball that had been dangling over the edge of the mug, and pulled the little metal ball out, letting it dangle above the mug for a long moment to stop dripping.

"Yes you're people, but we junior officers see you more as gods." Teá said smirking as she looked at Amelia, "and who knows maybe her intel training kicked in a bit hard and she just clamped down like she was trained to."

A sigh and a head shake were Amelia's response as she moved the tea ball to sit on top of the closed TARDIS tin. She then brought the mug to her lips and took a small sip of the warm spicy citrusy contents, causing a smile to bloom across her lips. "My mother and I both have been compared to Athena on multiple occasions, but I assure you, I am a mere mortal. I do bleed." With a soft shrug, then the hook of her thumb along the collar to drop the robe off her left shoulder, she exposed the cut on her upper arm. "I haven't decided if a couple of stupid muggers warrant counting coup, or if the souvenir I took off one of them before they ran is enough."

Teá's eye opened wide, "did this just happen?" Saying this with a look of concern on her face. She knew that Pond could take care of herself but she was still a close friend.

"It didn't look that bad last night," Amelia murmured, and twisted to get a better look at the cut. Honestly, she hadn't done more than glance at it before passing out once she'd stripped out of her clothes. Between how late it was, the alcohol that was still in her system, and the adrenaline crash, it'd been enough of a challenge to get to the bed first. "I'll actually be surprised if it properly scars. I probably should hit it with the regenerator, just to avoid people asking questions." She licked her thumb, and wiped off a little bit of the dried blood, revealing a straight clean cut. "It was last night. I was cutting across Central Park to get back to the hotel after karaoke, and a couple of guys tried to mug me. I dropped one of them before he knew what hit him, and his buddy got a lucky swipe on me. I did more damage to myself, sliding across the pavement to grab the first guy's dropped knife." Amelia drew her knee up to show the raw red pavement rash that was on the side of her leg.

Teá nodded seeing the rash on her leg, "sorry that some food sods thought they could take you." She said with a small smile.

"In all honesty, I'm more annoyed I'm going to have to replace the coat." Amelia shrugged. "And since the hotel charges for the replicator, I'll probably have to wait until I get back to the ship. At least I got a souvenir — when they ran off, asking for the dropped knife back wasn't even a thought. You should never buy a souvenir in New York, but there certainly ways to acquire them." She laughed.

"Yes I would be annoyed as well same if I damaged a good pair of shoes." Teá said with a smirk realizing that was the only true girly thing about her.

"The leather boots I was wearing can take a beating, I've had these things for years. Served me on more than a few field missions even. I love leather, it just develops character over time."

"I just like looking like biker chick sometimes." Teá said with a smile, "actually it's a look I got use quite often when I went undercover." She said allowing herself to remember some of her past undercover IDs and outfits. "I had some fun cover IDs."

"I don't remember most of my covers anymore, but I've had some fun fights while in the field. I think the best was the time where I had this Orion, and he just would not stay down until half the bar stood up to back me, because I'd spent the two hours before my mark walked in, buying rounds for the place. And you know me, I buy top shelf."

"I do know that," Teá said smiling, "I always preferred the seduction method myself. Always enjoyed the chase. But it is nice be settled with someone you know and trust whole heartedly." She said with the biggest smile to date if one was keeping track of them.

"How are things going between you and Sean? He never shuts up about you, so I can't properly judge by him," Amelia teased, hiding a smirk behind her tea filled mug.

"We're better still have a lot of work to do but I think we've turned the corner. Still wish he was here for the holidays." Teá said with a slight sigh, "speaking of Sean he was actually wondering where you've been. Talked to him last night he said every time he tried to call you you were gone."

"I don't know if he does it with you, but I swear, Boyo has the most amazing timing when he tries to call me. Let's see, I've only been on earth a little over a week. He's tried me every single day..." Amelia shook her head. "The first day, I hadn't even checked in yet. Second? Rochelle kidnapped me for Christmas shopping, he must have missed me by five minutes. Third, we had tickets to see La bohème with some of the command staff — and I had left him a message warning about that, and he still called while I was out for it. I could continue, but it's more of the same... he even called while I was on stage for the awards ceremony that ended up broadcast all over the Federation because of paparazzi." Amelia's eyes rolled, though it wasn't entirely clear if it was over Sean's timing or the paparazzi.

"You know Sean he's a persistent one and one that doesn't like doing things on other peoples time table." Teá said with a laugh, "but you still gotta love him even after all of that."

"Sean's like my brother. I love him like I love the noodle head that actually shares my genetics," Amelia insisted with a nod. "I had long since missed the hotel breakfast buffet when you woke me, but I should probably find something to eat... I heard rumors from Cecil, Rochelle's yeoman, of a place near here that does French toast on sour dough croissants."

"That sounds lovely," Teá said looking around her cramped studio apartment, "I better head out and find something to eat and start getting my paperwork together. I hope to see you soon." She said with a smile.

"We will. If nothing else, I should pop out SF ways, and we can get Klingon or Sushi?" Amelia grinned wide, thinking of either Valanna's or The Flying Squid. If it was the latter, she'd have to talk Teá into a midnight run, hopefully Hiroto-san still worked the graveyard shifts in his restaurant.

"Sounds like a date." Teá said with a smile, "you know me I love my sushi."

"Good, pick a night this week other than New Years Eve, and we'll hit The Flying Squid in the middle of the night." Amelia grinned wide.

"Alright figure a Monday or Tuesday would be for the best." Teá said, "I've got something I need to do Wednesday."

"You mean, get drunk, watch a ball drop, and celebrate the changing of the calendar?" Amelia winked. "Monday's good for me. Forward me the address of where you're staying and I'll be there at 2300."

Teá chuckled, "well do." Teá said smiling again. "See you Monday then!"

"Monday," Amelia repeated with a grin, then tapped the screen to close the channel. She emptied the hideous mug of the delicious tea, and padded to the bathroom to dig out her regenerator, and get ready to head out in search of food.

=/\= End Log =/\=

Commander Amelia Waterhouse
Executive Officer
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Lt Junior Grade Teá Black
Un-Assigned Intelligence Officer
Earth

 

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