Regrouping

Posted on Thu Nov 17th, 2011 @ 6:01pm by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine

1,053 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Race for the Lost Treasure
Location: CO's Quarters

ON

Sam walked into their quarters and dropped onto the couch. They'd spent a few hours talking with Curzon and the other Sam, but she was still a little shaky. The whole idea that she was from a parallel universe was a little hard to take.

Seeing her alter ego with Curzon was also weird. Curzon had been her friend, but she'd never felt for him what she felt for Damon. Damon was her rock. He was the one she leaned on when being Captain got to her. But ... Curzon? He was a great guy, but he couldn't compare with the man sheloved.

Damon felt numb from all the information he had just absorbed over the last few hours. More than that, however, he was concerned about Sam. Whatever he was feeling he could imagine she was feeling ten fold.

"How are you holding up, love?" He asked sincerely.

She shook her head. "I feel like I've been hit by a sledgehammer."

Damon almost laughed at the truth of it. "Well I can tell you that you are taking this far better than I likely would."

"Hey, if I didn't have you, I wouldn't be handling it quite so well." She lay her head against the back of the couch. "It's a lot to take in."

He sat next to her and took her hand in his. "If it's any consolation, I'm glad there is two of you."

Glad there weretwo of her? The comment surprised her. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, it helps me see that you are completely capable of not killing yourself without me chirping in your ear all the time." He joked.

She picked up a pillow off the couch and threw it at him. "So much for me saying I think I made a better choice than she did."

He let the pillow hit him before he laughed. "Okay, I deserved that." He gave her hand a squeeze. His tone turned serious. "You did make the right choice. Not many people get to see a qualifiable change in their environment by just being around. Think of this a different way, everyone on the Orion directly owes their lives to you, me included. The only difference between the Orion here and the Orion where we came from was that you were on board in our universe. We lived, them...not so much."

"I doubt that, but thank you. What about you? How are you dealing with all this? We both came from another place. A place we can't get back to."

Damon shrugged. "Home is wherever you are."

Sam hugged him tightly. "You always know the right thing to say." She shook her head and grinned. "That does put it in perspective. Before the Orion I had no one. Now I have you and I couldn't be happier. You're right. As long as we're together we're home." She said nothing for several moments. Being with Damon was melting away her earlier fears. Then she leaned back and looked at Damon. "Leanne. She's from the original Orion crew. Should we tell her?"

Damon nodded slowly as he looked forward. "I think so, she has a right to know. We should be careful about this, though. We have no idea the kind of damage we could inadvertently do by telling others."

"Agreed. I'll let her have her shore leave, then talk to her." A thought struck her and she looked at him, considering her words. "I know you're still afraid of dying, but you have to think of it this way. The other you died, but YOU survived. Maybe it's because we're together that we BOTH survived?"

He had a surprised look on his face as he regarded her. He knew she shouldn't have been. "I'm not sure how that's going to help the matter." He said dryly. "If anything it proves how little control we have over anything."

"Maybe it proves that ... nevermind." She didn't want to start that discussion again. It never ended well for her. "How about we change the subject?"

Damon was happy to change the subject. He sat like this for a number of moments before he spoke again. "Actually, I have a serious question for you." He wasn't sure it was the right time to ask, especially since it was an equally sore subject for her. "Please don't take this to be retaliatory, but, here your family is still alive..."

"Yeah, but it's not my family. It's her family. Our lives diverged significantly when my family died. I'm not sure I'd want to meet them. What do I say? Hi. I'm your daughter from a parallel universe. Can you take pity on me and act like I'm yours, too?" She shook her head. "Although I'll probably check to see what they've made of their lives."

"You don't feel like you need some sort of closure?"

That was a loaded question. "I had closure years ago. It's like they're my family and yet at the same time they're not. It's been thirteen years since my family died. Her family spent that time growing up and having lives of their own. they aren't the family I knew." Her voice trailed off and she buried her face in her hands. "And I'm afraid if I go see them they'll be total strangers."

Damon knew better than to push. To him, though, her reaction to it seemed to prove his point. Instead of saying so he kept his mouth shut and instead hugger her close to his body. "Whatever you decide to do, I'll be here to help you through it."

"I know you will," she said, cuddling closer. "I'll think about it. Maybe later. Once I've gotten used to the idea." She wrapped her arms around Damon. "For now, I'm happy where I am."

Some time later she sat up and turned to Damon. "How would you like to go ice skating? We haven't done that in a while."

Damon smiled. "You know what, that sounds like fun."

Sam stood and held out a hand to Damon. "I'll even try hard not to knock you over."

OFF

Captain Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Calypso

Commander Damon Raine
Executive Officer
USS Calypso

 

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