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A Mirror Shattered #124-126 - "It's all the Quartermaster's fault"-=[On]=- [Uss Pegasus, deck 7, Room 32] Lt. Black wandered out of the lounge, still rather shaken by the unexpected news about her 'other her'... she still carried the padd with the notification on it. She took a deep breath, then nodded. Ryylar had given her some excellent advice. Despite her nervousness, she ought to follow it. She asked the computer to locate Lt. Evans for her, and then set off for his quarters. Once she reached the door, she hesitated and then felt that she was awfully silly for closing her eyes before pressing the doorchime... But she did it anyways, and then opened her eyes, waiting to see what would happen. She was in her uniform now, the new pip shining slightly more than the old. <Who the hell could that be?!>Evans thought to himself as he dried himself off after taking a shower. He was tired. His date with Kitty didn't go excactly as he planned, so he was mulling it through his mind over and over again, mentally blowing everything out of proportion, eventually thinking he actually totally blew it. He quickly threw on some pants, and went for the door. As the door was opening, he said:"This better be good, whaddya wan... Oh... Hi... Eh, hello..." His demeanor changed in a split second, seeing who was at the door... "Uh..." Kitty glanced up as the door opened and her thoughts instantly sidetracked. <Well, what did you expect? Did you think he wore his uniform to bed?> Kitty blushed slightly as she realized that she had simply never thought of it. She certainly hadn't expected to see him not wearing a shirt. Then she remembered why she'd come, and the blush faded. Her voice trembled slightly. "Uhm, I'm sorry... I hope I'm not bothering you.. I mean.. I just found out... and.. it was a little... startling... and... I wasn't sure what to think.. and Ryylar said..." She abandoned that effort and tried a simpler explanation, her voice slightly quieter. "I think I need a hug." Evans face turned from surprise to misunderstanding to confusion through amazement to questioning, and finally as Kitty made her last statement to a mixture of relief, happieness and sympathy. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but I think I may be able to accomodate that last part," he finally said,"C'm'ere..." he said soothingly, as he pulled her into his arms. "Now, would you mind starting off again, but slowly?" he said, as he rested her head on his shoulder. Kitty held on tightly, resting her head on his shoulder, and started to relax.. a little, drawing comfort from his presence, and from the fact that he hadn't seemed to be upset or annoyed at her 'interruption'. She took a couple of deep breaths and started again, more slowly. "I got the results back from the database search on... the other me. And I found out... that she doesn't exist. No databases. Not Starfleet.. not even civilian. Out here... I was never even born." "Databaseresult?"Evans said softly to himself,"What d.. Oh, that one..." He realised he never even checked for himself. "That is... Well, I don't know... Bad news, I guess..." Evans was desperately trying to give this situation a good spin, but the only thing he could come up with, was "Well, it does make you extra special..." "I knew my parents... were never married, and never planned to. But I'd always thought there was love there... I never asked how long they stayed together, but..." This was clearly bothering her. The hug seemed to be helping, though. Her voice was a little calmer, and she wasn't as tense as before. Evans was still unsure what that had to do with Kitty not being born in this universe. "So... You are not sure your parents loved each other... Ok... But what has that to do with..." And another synapsis fired: "Unless you think there was no love for... eh, oh..." Evans broke the hug, grabbed Kitty by the shoulders and looked in her eyes. "You think there was no love for you... You are an accident?" It was out before Evans could help it, and suddenly his eyes grew realising what he just said. Kitty blinked and looked back at his intent gaze, her own eyes widening slightly as he managed to cut through the fog and tell her precisely what was bothering her, even though she hadn't known herself exactly what it was... Until he said it so clearly. She looked back at him for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Yeah. I.. I think I was an accident. An accident that.. didn't happen... in this... reality." "Oh shit, why can't I keep my f*&cking mouth shut..." he mumbled, and pulled her into another tight hug. "... I love you..." he finally said, putting the emphasis on 'I'... "I, uhm..." She was interrupted by the hug.. and the statement that followed. She closed her eyes, shuddered slightly, then took a deep breath. "Thank you..." she said softly. "I.. needed to hear that. I just... I don't know." Kitty smiled a little. "My grandparents love me, they raised me.. and my father used to visit once a year... and my mother.. came to my graduation... I just... suddenly feel as if it is all such a shaky foundation..." She took another deep breath, trying to keep herself calm. "I'm sorry..." <You're sorry? What did you do?!> Evans thought. He released his hug a bit. "Please come in, let's not block the hallway..." "Ok.. I.." Kitty blinked and then nodded, stepping into the room and looking around, her natural curiousity overcoming her general upsettedness... for just a moment. "I didn't realize you shared a room..." Though she should have, she thought. She only barely managed to avoid sharing quarters, herself, and her room was pretty small. "We won't be bothering.. anybody.. will we?" She looked around the room again. It seemed empty, other than herself and Evans. "The good ol' doc is running overtime, with all the wounded... I do expect him back some time, even he needs to sleep... but I don't know when..." said Evans. "Please, sit down... Want something to drink?" "Uh, sure..." Kitty seemed glad to sit down. She absently put the padd in her hand down on a nearby surface. "Something that isn't caffeinated. I just had some chocolate coffee not long ago." She took a moment to concentrate on relaxing and regaining her internal equilibrium. "Ehm no alcohol either..." he remembered. He came up with a great idea. "Warm milk with honey... Make that two." he ordered the replicator. He checked his visitor for signs of rejection. Kitty looked up with mild interest at the order. "My grandmother gives me warm milk if I'm having trouble sleeping," she remembered. "Does your mother do that, too?" "Well, actually, she did give me the warm milk. I read about the honey in some book I believe..." Evans responded. Kitty smiled, accepting her glass and looking into the.. white.. lack of depths. "I think it's something all mothers learn somewhere," she said quietly, and then took a slow, long sip. "I guess they learned it from their mothers..." Evans added casually, sitting next to her, staring in front of him. "What I still can't figure out is, who got the idea of sitting next to a cow, and drink the stuff that comes out if you squeeze that pink part..." Russell walked through the corridors on deck 7 heading for his quarters. He had been working double shifts for the past few days and felt tired as hell. <And I keep saying to my patients that rest is good medicine... Nice goin' Doc> he thought to himself. He yawned heavily as he walked up to the door of his quarters and pressed the button to enter. The sight of his half naked roommate and Lt. Black sitting on Evans' bed startled him a bit. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" he asked. "Ngj!" Evans said, startled by the sudden arrival of his roommate, almost spilling his milk all over himself. Kitty blinked and giggled at Evans' little joke, risking the worst fate of milk-drinkers.. getting it up her nose. Thankfully, she avoided that catastrophe.. only to look straight into another as The Roommate came home. She blinked and looked at him, and suddenly felt very silly. But "Uhm.." was the best she could come up with, especially after Evans' instant startle response. "..No?" she ventured timidly. "Well, actually you are..." an irritable Evans let slip. But then he realised there was nothing he could do about it, and let it go. "I thought so." Russell smiled and put his fist in front of his mouth to try and stop the upcoming yawn. "I see you two get along nicely. So the blabbermouth disease had some truth to it." he said smiling. "If you want me to leave, I'll find another place to get some shut eye." "I'm sorry, I don't mean to turn you out of your own quarters... I'll be going soon..." Kitty was now heartily embarrassed and becoming more timid by the moment. She pulled her legs close together, her feet side by side, her elbows in, as if trying to take up as little room as possible on the bed. "There's no need for that..." Russell said trying to convince her to stay. In fact he was hoping to get a good night's rest, but intruding on his roommate like that left him feeling a bit guilty. Evans just patted Kitty's back, still trying to comfort her. He glanced at Russell:"Well, it's not like we're making out, or something. Kitty just needed someone to talk to. And since we're dating and all... Nevermind..." "I don't mean to bother anyone." The news that had driven her to his quarters was clearly still having an effect on her. "I just... needed someone to talk to. We weren't... Doing anything." She took another long sip of her warm milk, beginning to calm down again, encouraged a little by Dr. Russell's kind response. "What she said..." Evans added redundantly. Russell smiled. "Make sure to lock the door otherwise." he smirked. "But that's none of my business entirely." he added quickly almost tripping over his own words. <Damn, not a relapse of blabbermouth I hope?> he thought to himself. Kitty blinked and blushed deep red, glancing back down at her milk. The corner of her mouth kept half-quirking into an amused smile. <tag> "Yeah, like you don't have a securitycode to unlock your own door..." Evans mumbled. <Come on, Evans, you're not helping, lighten up...> he thought to himself. "I'm sorry, doc, it's just that... Let's just keep it at a long day..." he finally said... "A long day indeed. A few long days if I may add." Russell said yawning slightly again. "I can see one of my former patients recovered above expectation." he said looking at Kitty. Evans didn't miss that comment:"Yeah, about that... Thanks, doc..." Ronald was really going out of his way to be nice. Kitty smiled at both comments. "I feel much better now... well, physically, at least." She added that last part in her usual helpless honesty. "Thank you." In response to that, Ronald could only hug his girlfriend, trying to cheer her up again. "You're all welcome." Russell said. He realized he was still standing in front of the door and said "You still want me to go or is it alright if I go sit down?" he asked gesturing at the door with one hand and to his bed with the other. "You can stay.. I don't mind," Kitty said softly, leaning into her boyfriend's hug." "Be my guest..." Evans said. Then something occurred to him. "Hm, i'm curious... Does that pad contain information of everyone's mirror? I'm quite curious..." "Just mine, I think. I asked them to notify me when my result came in. But you could link into the main computer and see for yourself." Kitty looked over at the discarded padd. "Mirror?" Russell asked wondering what that was about while walking over to his bed to sit down. "You don't know?" Evans responded. "We crossed over into a 'mirror' universe and you tell me you don't know?" Evans found that hard to believe. "I guess I have been so busy with the aftermath of our crossing the anomaly that I haven't been informed on the fact that people are looking for... themselves." Russell said as he thought about the last part of his sentence. "So we're in a mirror universe, big deal." he added while letting himself fall over backwards. "I see a mirror version of myself as a completely different individual." "Well, I can only hope," Kitty said wryly, still leaning into Evans' hug and sipping more slowly now at her milk. "You're not the least bit curious?" Evans asked. He was pretty curious himself, but he was busy holding his girlfriend, and a glass of milk... "I must admit, I'm a bit curious of what a mirror-Russell might turn out to be." he said sitting upright again looking at Evans. "Probably a doctor, though." he smirked. <Oh, no... Not another one...> Evans suddenly realised. "What?" Russell responded to the sudden look on Evans' face. "Huh? I didn't say anything..." Evans responded innocently... Kitty listened quietly, sipping her milk, frowning slightly... and then she yawned helplessly. The warm milk and reassuring company was working its magic on her, and the entire day was suddenly beginning to look... very long. "You're looking tired, all of a sudden..." Evans reacted to Kitty's yawn. He was having difficulties suppressing a yawn himself. "Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked semi-jokingly... Kitty blinked and smiled. "Oh... Yeah, I ought to go to bed... it's been a long day." She absent-mindedly offered him her empty glass as she sat up, stretching. "Doctor's orders." Russell said jokingly. "I'll put on a shirt and some slippers, and walk you to your quarters..." Evans offered. He wanted very hard to be the perfect gentleman. Kitty smiled shyly and nodded. "Alright. I'd appreciate that." She looked up at Dr. Russell. "Thank you for... saving my life, earlier." Russell nodded with a smile. "And thank you for saving the ship." he said. "Like the chicken and the egg..." he added softly. "Yeah... That too..." Evans added... -=[Off]=- Two is a JP, three is a crowd, Lieutenant Kathleen Black Chief Engineer USS Pegasus "The One That Lived" Lt. (jg) Dr. Russell D. Floyd Chief Medical Officer USS Pegasus "Am I interrupting something...?" Lt. (jg) Ronald Evans Chief Operations Officer USS Pegasus "Yes, you are." |
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