Heart To Heart
Posted on Tue Sep 17th, 2024 @ 7:57pm by Captain Marc Kidd & Ensign Nala Rider
Edited on on Wed Sep 25th, 2024 @ 1:17am
1,615 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2 - The Sins of History
Location: Gymnasium - Deck 6 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD011 1400 hrs
Nala was a bit apprehensive. She'd not talked with the Captain for awhile now...and she was worried that...Nala shook her head, refusing to let her thoughts sink into gloominess.
Nala arched her back, twisting left and right to remove the kinks.
Marc decided that in all the hub bub of the mission he needed to get a work out in. It had been some time since he had been in the gym. He strode in wearing the Starfleet issue gym shorts and t-shirt with a towel around his neck. When he arrived he noticed Nala stretching and everything came back to him. He realized that he had not spoken to her in a while, this was not intentional but was something that happened due to the mission at hand. All at once he found that he was not sure what he would say to the woman. As he began to take up his own stretching on a nearby matt he smiled. "Hey Nala! How goes?"
Nala jumped three feet straight up into the air!
"AH! Oh...hhi Ccaptain. Iit's ggoing along I guess," Nala sputtered, defaulting to rank as she caught herself by grabbing one of the climbing ropes, partaking in an awkward dance to keep from hurting herself or falling.
[Get a grip, Nala!] Nala chided herself as she felt butterflies fluttering like crazy in her stomach!
Marc could sense that things may be a little awkward. There had been some time since he was alone with Nala as the current mission had kept both of them quite busy. "Listen, why don't we dispense with the ranks. At least while we are in here. I am just plain and simple Marc." He smiled as he lifted a few barbells in succession. Truth was he realized that he did not know much about this woman, and while he was curious about her... Marc cut his thought off and decided to see where the day would take the both of them.
"There's NOTHING plain about you, Marc! I mean...er...," Nala was blushing up a storm!
"Let me try that again. When I get flustered, or angry, my brain goes into a 'military mode' type thing...which mostly keeps me out of trouble cause my mind is like: 'ok, you're getting off course, mind your p's and q's to maintain balance'," Nala was, ironically, on the balance beam as she spoke...and started to giggle at the irony.
"I guess that makes a lot of sense. It is your mind trying to get your thoughts in order..." Marc spoke between reps on the barbell. "I am no Counselor, but if you intend on having social relationships I would imagine that you are going to have to work to get passed that. I would be more than willing to help you get passed that." He spoke out caring as both her Captain and someone who was romantically interested in her.
"That'd be a big help! I REALLY want to succeed, but sometimes I feel like I'm a little kid trapped in an adult's body: I just react before I fully understand what's going on," Nala pulled her chin above the bar before lowering her body again.
Marc would be lying if he said that she did not look ridiculously attractive while working out. However, at the moment he had to keep that to himself. "I think the first step is to make sure that you think before you speak. Check and double check your thoughts as you would your work before submitting it to the file."
"Got any 'beginner's manual' suggestions?" Nala asked, pushing herself up between the hanging rings so that her body weight rested on her arms, keeping her legs as straight as possible in front of her.
"Not really... I think it is simply something that comes with practice and with a lot of time. As I said evaluate what you are going to say before you say it. Ask yourself if it makes sense and are you in the right situation to say those things. If that makes sense." Marc was no expert on these things that is for damn sure. But, if they were going to have a relationship he would make sure that she learned certain things that would improve herself.
"That does make sense. I just wish It was an instantaneous thing," Nala threw a last punch at the bag, before kicking it three times in quick succession.
"Agreed, and don't we all. However, self improvement is something that we all are constantly working on and is never instantaneous. I believe it is one of the things that defines us as people. That is the want, the drive to keep growing, keep learning and better ourselves." Marc did not want to sound too pretentious but he wanted to drive home his point.
"To keep growing is something the Federation seems to be getting pretty good at. Only thing is...sigh, the bigger something gets, the more bad guys come out of the woodwork. Same with me. I grow, and more splinters appear. But...I am SLOWLY learning to smooth those splinters down," Nala huffed, swinging a staff through three balloons at once.
"And that is the meaning of life if I may be so bold. Problems, like enemies will attack you and it is up to you to hold the line, much like it is up to Starfleet and the Federation. The Federation needs allies to repel those attackers, the question you must ask yourself is do you have those allies to help yourself? These allies can come in many places and many different types of people. But, your most potent one would be a Counselor. Have you seen a Counselor to help you with all of this?" Marc wanted to continue the analogy that she began for he thought that may be the best way to get through.
"No...I've been kinda 'Lone Wolfing' it for the last few years. Friends have taken me to 'Counselors' but each one turned out to be either a kook, Charlton, money moocher, Druggie, and the last guy I went to was a Hypnotist," Nala shuddered at THAT memory, stopping her exercise and hugging herself tightly, as if that alone would put the terror back into it's box in the dark recesses of her mind.
Nala didn't want Marc to think badly of her for her past, even though her head kept telling her he wasn't like that...her heart was worried.
"Yeah, finding a therapist that is a good fit is half the battle. Have you tried talking with Adalyn. She is the criminal profiler aboard. But, she was a Counselor first. She may be a good place to start." Marc said with a smile. In the back of his head he began to think how he would address the night he and Nala spent together. He still sorted his feelings out on that subject.
"Adalyn? I don't believe so. Then again, I've been doing good to keep from tying my shoes together!" Nala giggled in that 'floor please swallow me' type way.
"Um...a bit off subject, but...gulp, about the other night???" Nala let it hang in the air, not sure where Marc's heart was up to this point.
Marc paused for a moment before he spoke. He wanted to say a lot on the subject, but the truth was he hadn't unpacked it yet. He also was not sure about Nala's state of mind. He decided to take a relatively easy path in response. "Well you should make an appointment, and don't make me make it an order." He smiled to let her know he was kidding about the order. "I want you to know that the other night was not simply nothing. But there is a lot that has to be unpacked now. First there is the idea that I am your superior officer. Something that I should have thought about before anything happened. For that I am sorry."
Nala grinned at the joke, then her heart sank at the reminder of Officers and Enlisted men not having relationships.
"Oh...yyeah. I fforgot about that. Swallow I understand. [Come on Nala, show that mature side! No crying!]" Nala took a steadying breath through her nose, thankful she had started lifting bar bells when Marc had reminded her of the rules so that her emotions were covered by exertion.
"For the time being perhaps we let sleeping dogs lay. I can look into the procedure here as I do not want to harm either one of our careers. Then we can see how to proceed..." Marc's voice trailed off as he stopped his workout and turned to face Nala. "...I am truly sorry. I do not want to hurt you. As I said this sort of thing has to be handled delicately. I hope, at least until this all gets sorted we can be friends." He took her into the kind of embrace that two friends would exchange to make each other feel better.
"I'd like that...and thank you," Nala hugged back, a soft smile on her lips.
Nala knew that even if things didn't work out romantically, Nala was still loyal to Marc and the Artemis.
A joint Post By
Captain Marc Kidd
Commanding Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Ensign Nala Rider
Facial Reconstruction Specialist, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
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