Shaky Ground, part 2

Posted on Thu Dec 3rd, 2009 @ 1:50am by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine

975 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Devils Snare
Location: Arboretum
Timeline: current

[OLD]

He smiled as he accepted her into his arms. "You know," he said looking down at the woman he was holding, "I could get used to this."

[NEW]

"You don't hear me complaining." She gave him a cheeky grin. "So, Mr. Raine, do I humiliate myself another time, or do you want to do something else?" She didn't care either way. She had fun with the first game, even though she lost badly. Then again, she'd enjoy anything if she could do it with Damon.

"No, I wont put you through that again. How about we try the dart board?" He said as he begrudgingly released her from his hold.

"Darts are fine. Maybe I'll fare better there." Although, if she had her druthers she'd prefer to stay where she was. But it probably wouldn't be such a good idea to stand in the middle of a public room wrapped in each other's arms.

They found an empty dart board and Sam went first. This game was one she'd played more often. Her first shot landed in the second ring.

"Impressive." Damon said to her as he walked to the line and carefully aimed his shot. As he threw the dart it became instantly apparent that he wasn't nearly as accurate as his counterpart. The thrown dart thudded harmlessly outside the rings on the black portion of the board.

She walked up to him and leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "That's okay. My brothers used to play this all the time. I worked hard to beat them at it." Then she lined up, took her shot, and scored another hit near the center. Not quite there yet, but she was getting closer.

Once again Damon's aim was off, this time it landed on the inner rung of the 9. He hung his head in mock shame and laughed.

"Thing is, I can throw a knife at something and have pretty good results with it. I'm not too adept at handling dainty things I guess."

Sam laughed and threw her last three darts, not caring where they handed. "Okay. Let's call this one good." She looked at the chronometer. "I promised Lizzie I'd take care of her plants tonight. She's got the night off." She glanced up at Damon. "Want to walk down to the arboretum with me?"

"I would love to accompany you." He said smiling at her.

Damon quickly gathered the remaining darts and deposited them in their respective cases before turning back to Samantha.

They walked down to the arboretum, which had been darkened to simulate night. Sam lead the way carefully into the back workroom, and beyond to a smaller room with a table covered in small pots of plants, a smaller table with supplies and a couch with a pillow and blanket neatly stacked on one end.

"Lizzie sleeps back here sometimes," Sam explained as she went to the smaller table and began to measure chemicals into tiny feeding tubes. Then, when they were ready, she carefully placed one in each of the small posts.

Damon studied her actions and noted how precise her measurements were.

"I'm no botanist, but I am curious as to what's going on with this experiment." He said, turning a critical eye towards the containers.

"She's trying to create a hybrid of two different species of herb. She has to carefully monitor the plant food because one of the two hybrids is very delicate. They tend to die if they're grown domestically. If this works, it'll create a heartier variety," Sam explained as she worked.

"Oh." He stated simply. "Is this her first attempt at this project?"

"At this phase, yes. But it's taken a while to get to the stage of actually growing a hybrid. Even with the holodeck trials, the first few tries failed to germinate." Finally done, she brushed off her hands and turned to Damon. "Done. I'm all yours now."

"Oh, is that a fact," he asked as he moved closer to her.

Sam blushed. "I.... umm..." Yes.

With a smile he leaned over and softly kissed her on the lips.

Sam returned the kiss, just as softly. Then she put a hand on his cheek. "I should say good night now."

He blinked couple of times before pulling back, slightly embarrassed. ~Damnit, you crossed a line~

"Uh, of course. Sleep well." His eyes looked to a point on the floor.

Sam saw his expression change. She'd messed up. "Damon, I said I should go, not I want to go."

"No it's okay, you're right, it's late and there is a lot to do tomorrow." He wasn't sure he bought her words but he didn't want to put her on the spot and make her feel more uncomfortable than she already was.

Yea. She'd done something stupid. She didn't even know why she said what she did. Sam tried hard to hide her disappointment, but she wasn't sure how successful she was. "Okay. I think I'll stay here a little longer." She didn't think she'd be able to sleep for a while. "Maybe I'll walk in the arboretum for a while." She looked up at him for a moment, then looked away. "I'll... walk you out."

"Thank you, it's really okay though. Just a few paces out the door anyways." He flashed a smile to her despite the fact that smiling was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment. "Good night Samantha."

~Unbelievable. You completely screwed this up.~ He mentally chastised himself, as he turned and walked out of the workroom. He knew at that moment that the bottle of Andorian ale he was saving would have its seal broken once he returned to his quarters.

(To be continued...)

2nd Lieutenant Damon Raine
Marine CO
USS Orion

Lieutenant Samantha York
Chief Science Officer
USS Orion

 

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