Setting is Everything

Posted on Tue Aug 28th, 2012 @ 1:02pm by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine

1,404 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Subjugation
Location: An escape pod, somewhere

ON

Samantha woke with a headache. "Again?" she muttered. She did not appreciate being stunned. She especially didn't appreciate the headache that followed. Gingerly she looked around to see where she was this time. An escape pod? Another careful look confirmed it. Hopefully this was a step up from Kilgore's ship.

If Damon was here and Kilgore gone, it would definitely be an improvement. She jerked her head to the side to see if Damon was there. "Stupid move, York." She dropped back to the bench as a wave of dizziness washed over her. When it passed she turned her head slowly and scanned the pod, relieved to see him on the opposite bench.

Damon? She reached out to him telepathically. Are you okay?

"Yes. I'm fine." Damon said from the other side of the escape pod. His raised his head from the cold bench and looked over to her. "Glad to see you awake." He got off the bench quickly and made his way over to her. "The dizziness isn't as bad as the nausia that comes later." He said as he wrapped his arm around her.

"Oh, lovely," she joked. "Nothing like a bout of nausea to make a girl feel better." She cuddled closer to Damon, enjoying the moment.

"Do you know where we're headed?" she asked after a while.

"No, but considering the last moment I remember is attacking Kilgore, I wouldn't be surprised if we're headed for a sun." He looked to her after a passing moment. "Sorry, bad joke. Conversation hasn't exactly been my strong suit over the last month."

Sam laughed and then groaned as it made her head hurt. "If you hadn't, I would. The man makes me want to..." She sighed and hugged him again. "It doesn't matter. As long as we're together, I'm good."

After several more minutes she stood, holding on to Damon's shoulder to keep her balance and to give her support while she waited for the wave of nausea to pass. Then she walked slowly and carefully over to the panel display. "If the coordinates are right, we should be heading into a populated sector of space. Someone should find us sooner or later."

She punched a command into the comm system, but nothing happened. "He disabled the comms."

Another wave of nausea forced her into the bathroom and then back to the bench. Damon was right. The nausea was worse. She lay back down with a groan. "Okay, I think I'm done moving for now." She looked up at Damon and smiled wanly. "Hey, if this is what it takes to get away from Kilgore, it's worth it." She'd gone to greater lengths to get Damon back, this was a little thing that would soon pass. And, if she read the panel correctly, they'd soon be safely on a starship.

Damon smiled as he looked down to her. "We're alive, so I'm inclined to agree with you." He stood and made his way over to where the emergency supplies were stored. After rummaging though the care package for a moment he returned with a blanket with which he draped over Samantha.

"Thank you," she said, beginning to feel better. The blanket warmed her physically, but it was his presence that warmed her heart. "How are you doing?" She gently ran a hand over the bandage covering his eye. "What happened?"

He pulled back from her touch, almost ashamed for the wound. "You know how it was down there." He said, avoiding the question. "We had to fight for what is important."

"Yes," she said, her voice almost a whisper. Fight ... and sometimes kill. But the alternative was ... She turned her head away, not wanting Damon to see the expression in her eyes. She'd been the victim of what some men became as a result of their time in the mines. After surviving the brutal assault, she swore she would never let it happen again. Not to her and not to anyone under her protection. There were some things worth fighting for. Even knowing what the mines were like, getting Damon back was worth everything she'd been through.

He could sense that there was a lot left unsaid, but then again he was being taciturn as well. With enough memories stored away from the war he knew well the need to keep those away from others. Bringing them up only served as a reminder of the horrors.

"Now comes the task of moving on." He said as he leaned his head against the panel behind him.

Sam looked at Damon intently. "Marry me."

"...Like this?" He asked with a strange detachment. He turned to face her. "After this?"

She sat up and turned to face him. "For two years I've hoped you'd ask me and feared that if I mentioned it, you'd leave. In the mines, I realized that if I don't take the chance when I have it, I may never have another opportunity." This was not going as she'd hoped. "I don't want to wait any more. I want us to get married before we get back to the Calypso."

"I don't want this to be about a brush with death. I won't have the last number of weeks in that hell hole influence something like this."

Sam stood and paced the room, uncaring that the blanket fell to the floor. "I'm not asking because of the mines. I've wanted to marry you for over two years." She stopped pacing and faced him. "Damon, I love you more than anything. Whatever the future holds, I want to be your wife. I don't want to put it off any longer. We have time now, before we return to the Calypso and I want to take advantage of it."

Damon shook his head and looked down at the floor. He refused to look up at her as she stood patiently in front of him. After what seemed like an eternity he finally mumbled something almost inaudible. "This isn't how I wanted this to go." He shook his head again before letting out a sigh. His hand reached into a special pocket he had fashioned on the inside of his garment weeks ago and clasped on to something. He pulled it out and buried it in his palm where he held on to it so hard that it started to hurt.

He would never tell her that it was over this small thing that he got in a fight he couldn't hope to win in order to get it back. He would never tell her it was because of this that he lost his eye. He would also never tell her that he would do it all over again for what it represented.

"I've been holding on to this since long before I transferred to the Ontario. I've never really been one for words, you know that, but I just kept thinking the right moment would present itself. I had no idea how to..." He looked up at her. "Nothing with us has ever really been easy." His hand opened to reveal a simple diamond encrusted ring. "And I don't care that it is. I'd rather my actions prove what you mean to me far more than words." He reached out for her hand and held it there while he slipped the ring over her finger.

Sam began to tremble as she watched him, touched beyond words by his gesture. "I love you just the way you are. Hey, you put up with me, and that can't be easy." She looked down at the ring and then back up at Damon. "It's absolutely beautiful. And you are the most wonderful man I've ever met. I would be honored to be your wife."

He stood from the bench and embarrassed Samantha. He held her almost as if he was afraid to let her go. A thought suddenly struck him as he held tight. "Damnit...I should have proposed behind that waterfall..."

Sam chuckled softly, picking up on his thought. "That would have been a perfect setting. So, let's just pretend that's where we are now. At least we don't have to worry about anyone walking in on us," she joked before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.

OFF

Captain Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Calypso

Commander Damon Raine
Executive Officer
USS Calypso

 

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