What the Hell?
Posted on Thu Dec 13th, 2018 @ 4:53pm by Stephen Spires & Lieutenant Commander Mara Ricci
Edited on on Fri Dec 14th, 2018 @ 9:04pm
Mission:
S0E0: What Came Before
Location: Spires' Quarters
Having read Spires' latest report, Mara was fuming. He'd made her sound like a complete dufus who had no plans to do anything at all. So now, she was stomping towards his quarters, PaDD with his article in hand. Once there, she jabbed her thumb to the chime angrily and glared at a passing ensign.
These new Spacedock stations were luxurious compared to his usual assignments. Stephen had every amenity - a jetted tub rather than a sonic shower; a two-way LED media wall that featured whatever he wanted on both sides; even a holographic fireplace in each room. At the moment, the feature he favored most was the camera feed from beyond his door -- standard issue!
Through it, Stephen could see an angry Mara scowling into the fish-eye lens. Apparently somebody had seen his article. Stephen permitted himself a cruel chuckle.
"Come on in, darlin'. The door's open!"
Holding the PADD up, Mara stormed into his quarters. Her eyes scanned the room briefly before landing on Spires. "What the hell is this?" she demanded hotly.
"Looks like a Personal Access Display Device," Stephen quipped. "They're all the rage this century."
She gave him a look reminiscent of a mother warning her teenager not to talk back. "You know what I mean!" she snapped. "Your article! You took my quotes out of context and make us all look like bumbling idiots! And I'll bet you didn't even try to contact Ingram, did you?"
Stephen shrugged. "I went to his office and got turned away by a larger-than-life furball. Seems the commander was rather busy, what with crisis management, so I wrote as much. Regarding your quotes, however..." He smirked devilishly. "If the shoe fits?"
She was tempted to throw the PADD at his head, but instead grabbed a pillow from a nearby sofa and threw that instead. After all, she didn't need an assault charge from some trumped up reporter. "You know the jump wasn't my responsibility and you know it wasn't a big deal that the other two modules went a bit awry! I told you it was just a minor set-back and not totally unexpected. And you went and wrote this- this garbage anyway!" She was steamed and it showed in her eyes. "You could have written it as an interesting article on the kinks we're still working out with the jump, but no! You had to make us all look like idiots who can't do simple math!"
"I don't know about your math, but evidently you don't know how to read." He snatched the PADD away from her and quoted himself. "'The Chief Engineer has been unable to pinpoint the precise cause of the miscalculation. When asked, her only explanation was to say, "I didn’t miscalculate anything! The jump was not my responsibility."'" He tossed the PADD back to her, putting some English backspin on it. "You said it wasn't your fault and I quoted you. Nothing about ya'll being idiots. Seems like you got your panties in a bunch over nothing." He raised his eyebrow suggestively. "Or is it something else that's got you lubed up? You wouldn't be the first woman to feel the angst of Spires deprivation."
She gave him another warning look, but to be honest, he had managed to placate her slightly. "I meant 'us' as in Starfleet," she pointed out. "But, that's not my point. My point is that you keep running around poking your nose into things instead of just asking polite questions and requesting interviews and then you come up with this nonsense that doesn't really mean anything!" She tossed the PADD onto the sofa. "Why can't you just play nice?"
Stephen strutted one foot in front of the other in a confident swagger, inserting himself directly into Mara's space. "Play nice?" His lips curved into a taunting, tantalizing smirk. "Is that what you came here for? Seems to me that you always liked it hard, rough." He seized her by the arms and pressed his nose up to her ear, smelling the scent of her hair. When he spoke again, his voice fell to a whisper. "Just how nice were you wanting me to be tonight, Mara?"
Mara's jaw clenched as the fire roared inside her again. How he could manage to turn her anger into lust so quickly was beyond her, but at the moment, she didn't care. "Damn you," she hissed before pressing her lips to his and grabbing at the hem of his shirt and fumbling it over his head.
4 hours later...
Stephen let out a gasp before he lulled his head back against the sides of the in-floor tub and let the jets do their work. One arm gripped the floor tile while the other wrapped Mara's wet, hard body against his own.
"Girl, you just don't quit, do ya?" he said through labored breathing. It had been awhile since one of their marathons, and he'd nearly forgotten the pace she liked to keep. Tonight had been one for the highlight reel. "'Course I ain't complainin' none." His brogue always came out more when he was relaxed.
She chuckled, finally satisfied. "I could say the same for you," she replied, moving from her place on his lap to sit next to him. "There aren't many men who can keep up."
"In more ways than one, I'd imagine." Stephen snickered at his innuendo. "How do we always end up like this, Mara? At each other's throats one minute, and then knockin' the bottom out the next?"
"Because you're a smooth-talking, insufferable jerk who is really good in bed- and other places- and I'm a sucker for it," she replied matter-of-factly.
"Well, I can attest to that last part." He snickered again. "And the first bit, too. Always did fancy myself a cunning linguist."
"You and your silver tongue," she replied with a suggestive smirk as she settled back a bit, enjoying the feeling of the jets on her back, which she had not realized was sore.
For all their cavalier banter, Stephen knew something was happening. He tried to fight it. In fact, that was part of the reason he didn't fight reassignment. "So you never did ask me why I left the Palatine. Well, before you did, at least."
"I assumed you were offered something more exciting," she replied. "What was it?"
"Freedom."
Stephen looked at her sideways, not wanting to face her head on. "Lieutenant Jiang yanked my security clearance, sure, but that's not a real obstacle to yours truly. I felt myself getting too attached. When the security chief played hard ball, then I cashed in my chips and went to the next assignment. An old assignment." Stephen snorted with wry mirth. "DS5 wasn't nearly as exciting as in my old ways, back when I was first starting out. Guess that's why I took the Long Jump assignment." He sighed. "Now I find myself entangled int he same ol' attachments I was trying to avoid."
Mara blinked and glanced at him. "I'm not tying you down," she assured him, thinking he meant that he felt she wanted some sort of relationship. "I'm not asking for anything more. So, don't worry about hurting me."
"Right, tough girl," he replied. "Never said I was talking about hurting you. This was about me, remember? When a reporter comes to like the make and model of a person's ass a lil' too much, it can lead to... problems."
She blinked again, brow wrinkling. "Are you...?" she started, but trailed off. Shit! she thought as the memory of the letter he'd sent her on the Palatine came back to her. She had been momentarily panicked that he had taken their time together more seriously than she had thought and now those fears returned. But, no, he was playing her. He must be! "Don't do that," she told him, voice wavering slightly. "Don't make me believe you." But, somewhere in the back of her mind, she already did.
Stephen fixed her with a probing stare. His gray emerald eyes shone with fury, spite, and longing. "I think it's best we see other people. For both of us." Without giving her a chance to respond, he hauled his bones out of the tub and plopped his dripping feet over to the towel rack. Soft linen, and not at all like mama used to leave out. "When you're done, you can show yourself out."
Mara was left with her jaw hanging open in disbelief. "You almost had me," she snarled, pulling herself out of the tub and crossing to grab a towel. "I really almost believed you for a minute. But, you're really just a slimy, no good snake! You were just trying to butter me up so I wouldn't be angry about that stupid article you wrote and any furture articles you may write. Well, I've got news for you! I'm already pissed at everything you haven't written yet! And I'm going to stay that way until the day one of us leaves this god-forsaken hell-hole!"
"Fuck you very much, too, darlin'." Stephen walked away, one hand holding the towel against his waist with the other upraised in an obscene gesture. And with that he rounded the corner out of the bathroom and toward his bed.
With a grunt of annoyance, Mara finished toweling off and pulled on her clothes as quickly as she could. She was too angry to stay here and shout some more, so she left as soon as she was decent enough, carrying the remainder of her clothing with her. It was only when she got back to her quarters that she realized that she was neither carrying nor wearing her bra. “Damnit!” she hissed angrily.
