JPL - Com Ivanova, Cmdr Waterhouse, Cmdr Dahe'el, Capt Neyes, Cmdr Neyes, LtJG Charlson & Noah Waterhouse - "I'm Dreamin' Tonight Of A Place I Love" Pt. II of II

Posted on Fri Jan 9th, 2015 @ 11:34am by Commander Amelia Waterhouse & Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Commander Tristan Neyes PhD. & Captain Landon Neyes

2,133 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: A Spot To Kill

=/\= Continued from Part I =/\=

Evelyn smiled wide at the banter as she disappeared towards the kitchen with her granddaughter and daughter in law in tow, as people approached the table. At each spot sat a small card with careful Calligraphy spelling each person's first name. At either end of the table, Evelyn and Jasper sat; to Jasper's right was Corey, and his left was Rochelle. Between Corey and his mother stretched Diziara, Amelia, Noah, and then Lily. Between Rochelle and Evelyn were Landon, Tristan, Zed, and Almar.

"When my previous host, Jazni lived in the southern provinces, I remember having nothing to do except garden. Day in and day out. No greenhouse required. I think she would have given anything for a replicator once in a while." Neyes thanked the stars for his refusal to adhere to a vegetarian diet. It was more common than not these days, especially in Starfleet. The more enlightened the culture, the less blood they could stomach eating. Neyes had never found a real reason to consider it as a viable alternative to, well... eating as he wanted.

"While I can't speak to Cardassian nature in general, my parents were the last people who would cook, the replicator burnt out more often than not," Almar chimed as he found the card with his name, smiled at the sight of his involvement and took the seat, "I guess that's where I picked up some of my technical knowledge."

"I cut my teeth on replicators too, though it was the one my friend Jack and his family had, and it was usually because he and I were trying to load black market patterns into it," Corey confessed with an innocent eye roll as he sat down.

Tristan placed a napkin on his son's lap, whispering informative directions into the young boy's ear on how to behave at a guest's home for a meal. Zed squirmed as he looked around at all the people, but never locking eyes with anyone. "We are blessed to serve on a vessel capable of growing its own produce. Hydroponics, and fresh vegetables, are wonderful things when you're stuck in space for months at a time."

"I've helped!" Zed chirped.

"Zed has a planter in the bay with several of the other children on Vindicator." Tristan added.

Sweeping a hand behind her to make sure her skirt stayed where it was supposed to, Rochelle took her seat beside Jasper and looked to Landon beside her. Somehow being wedged between them didn't quite manage to bode well, not when things were fresh and new and she was still so painfully awkward when it came right down to it. "From what I hear, Zed has quite the green thumb." She offered into the conversation, settling her own napkin on her lap, "I haven't had much of a chance to check the state of the garden at home, but I'm going to consider it a total loss knowing that no one was there to tend to it through the war and now..." She gestured towards the window and winter outside. "The mountains aren't exactly as forgiving as Oakland or Vindicator's climate controls when it comes to winter weather and vegetation."

The idle small talk was what families were about, a thing that seemed so grossly foreign to Rochelle as she looked between each member that sat at the table, her gaze lingering longer on some. Almar seemed so far away, Zed, and Tristan too — and of course Amelia was hidden in the kitchen. They were her circle, her family. Under the table her fingers brushed Landon's knee, reaffirming his position and giving herself the gift of comfort now that she was so far out of her zone of familiarity. She could have excused herself, used the ship as an out — but her core group would have seen right through her. She wasn't allowed on duty, not yet. Rotek had yet to clear her and leaving wasn't an option. Playing the gracious guest, however, appeared to be the only one — pretty smiles and all.

"If we still have the light after dinner, would you like to go out and see my garden, Zed?" Evelyn suggested as she entered the dining room with the Turkey. She moved around the table to set it in front of Jasper. Amelia and Diziara followed, with the rest of the dishes distributed between them. The serving plates and gravy boats were spread among the the open space at the middle of the table, and both tall red-heads found their seats.

The boy quickly looked to Tristan, who shrugged. "Go for it, bud." To which Zed responded by bouncing his head up and down.

Landon, defying the notion he should somehow be cautious with his feelings about their Captain, put a hand behind her neck and steadily massaged away at her obvious discomfort. A tritanium saw couldn't have given him the cutting power he needed to break her away from her inhibited sense of relaxation. She was surrounded by the people she loved most, a rare and wonderful thing in his experience. He wanted her to feel how special this occasion really was.

"Maybe it's a little silly, but can't think of a better way to spend this time. Thank you for inviting us into your home. How long have you lived here?" Neyes asked, continuing to idly grind away at the petite red-head's knots.

"When was it the construction finished?" Evelyn asked, looking down the length of the table at Jasper. "It was before any of the kids were born, though I remember being the size of a hot air balloon with Lydia at the time." She picked up the basket of rolls, and after taking one for herself, handed it over to Almar.

"31st of July, 2342. I installed the front door myself to finish the job," Jasper insisted, beaming with pride as he stood up to start carving the turkey.

"As I recall, you drove the foreman mad since you kept sticking your nose into everything. He didn't care that you drew up the plans yourself," Evelyn returned with a laugh. "He certainly wasn't pleased letting you get your hands dirty."

He was bold. Bold in so many ways, Rochelle thought while the tension laced muscles of her neck and upper shoulders slowly began to rebel against her and settled beneath the Landon's comforting hand. Such a public display wasn't lost on her, but it wasn't a case of coloring entirely out of the lines they'd drawn for themselves as officers. A stolen touch here, accidental brush there — the semi-possessive nature of a guiding hand against her back as they dealt with Brass hearings surrounding Romulans and a steady catalog of other nasties. It was his nature to push boundaries, namely hers, and today he'd dropped a healthy serving of 'get over it', wrapped in bright paper and pretty bows, into her lap.

Looking at him, she instantly got the barbed point of his comment and question towards Evelyn. It wasn't, as he'd put it, silly and it didn't take much to guide her mind in the right direction that she should be thankful for the opportunity to know family and to know what the spirit of the holidays felt like with people all around her. He too had sustained so much loss at a young age and yet there he was, sure as anything and enjoying himself... Thoroughly. "Reminds me of a couple people I know." She quipped in amusement, her eyes flashing briefly towards both the Trill beside her and the Cardassian further down the table. "Sometimes it's that extra care that makes things so special. Case in point..." Her voice faded off as she gestured towards the house.

Jasper's grin could have lit the room if the chandelier above the table were to suddenly blink out, and he held out his hand for Rochelle's plate. "White or dark meat?" Evelyn rose an eyebrow, a glance at her son. Corey shook his head at his mother, and smirks of amusement trickled down that side of the table starting with Diziara and ending with Noah.

Handing her plate to Jasper with a baleful look being cast towards the Admiral at the table, Rochelle simply replied; "Dealer's choice," offered him one of those winning pretty smiles, and left it at that.

"I know you serve on Vindicator also, dear, but what do you do?" Evelyn quickly redirected from her disapproval of the breach of protocol her husband had just preformed, and looked to Lily.

"I'm a Security Officer ma'am, I make sure Noah doesn't break anything or touch anything he shouldn't!" She said, giving Noah a small wink.

"Knowing my grandson, that alone will keep your hands full," Evelyn return with a laugh. Noah shook his head, though he smiled.

"I will choose not to comment on that!" Lily said, giving Noah a playful push. "But really, it's mainly making sure that Commander Waterhouse and Commodore Ivanova stay out of trouble, you know how they are after all!" Lily said, looking towards them and giving them a small smile.

Lily and Jasper had seemingly combined forces with Landon, forcing the young redhead further out of her hermit-like shell. The quip she'd made had most definitely caught Rochelle's attention and she winked at Amelia before honing in on the most junior officer on the table. "I don't think they do, Lily." She smiled and folded her hands on the linen in front of her, moving only to take her plate back when Jasper offered it, "I think you should share some of these sea stories. Don't you, Amelia?"

"I have to know where I failed to cover my tracks, I did learn from the best after all," Amelia returned, a sidelong glance down the table towards her father. He chuckled and shook his head. "And I insist, you call me Pond if you're going to tell stories about me."

"Well I guess the best one is when Me, Pond and Rochelle decided to beam down to Qu'nos for leave. Pond didn't like the look of the bartender apparently, because next thing I know, they're both fighting off a hoard of about 20 angry Klingons with their bare hands. I, of course, had to dive in and intervene, after all, didn't want the two of them getting hurt. We somehow managed to divide and conquer, Pond taking the biggest group of ten, and for some reason or another deciding that she didn't want to stop there, and came and helped me. Suffice to say, we managed to deal with it all!" Lily said, pointing to the two other officers.

A silence settled around the table as Lily finished speaking, until Amelia's laugh rang out like a shot. "If we were at a bar, I would be buying your next round for a tale so full of hot air and-" Amelia fell into Klingon, but the tone made it clear what the words meant. "We perhaps need to work on your form, and maybe dialing it back a notch to keep it a touch realistic, but none the less." She chuckled and shook her head as she leaned over to Noah and whispered, "You need to keep this one around."

Sitting in awkward repose, the prim young Commodore looked between Amelia and the Junior Grade in what could only be described as wide eyed horror while a proverbial cricket chirped somewhere in the background. It was only when Amelia's laughter knifed the silence that Rochelle let go of the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and shook her head with the driest of chuckles. "Well..." She started, "That was certainly a colorful accounting of what happened on Qo'noS. As with all great sea stories, there's an element of truth woven in with a tissue of nonsense. Amelia can show you the ropes." She winked and sunk back against her chair and the careful kneading of Landon's fingers.

Conversation broke apart into smaller groups as plates filled, and people started to enjoy their Christmas dinner. Amelia couldn't help a proud grin as she looked around the table at everyone who was there. This was what Christmas was about anyways — family.

=/\= End Log =/\=

Commodore Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC-78213-E

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

Commander Almar Dahe'el
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Rear Admiral Corey Waterhouse
Head of Fighter Design Team
Utopia Planitia

Captain Landon Neyes
Former CO / Unassigned
USS Vindicator

Captain Diziara
Lead Test Pilot
Utopia Planitia

Commander Tristan Neyes
Chief Counselor
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E

Lieutenant JG Lily Charlson
Security Officer
USS Vindicator

Jasper and Evelyn Waterhouse
Parents of the Admiral
Oakland, Earth

Noah Waterhouse
Artist and Pastafarian Minister
The Pelican

Zed Irelle
Mini-Numero-Uno
apb Landon

 

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