Post by Captain_Quintus on Apr 4, 2016 5:32:01 GMT
Postby DeMcGowan » Wed Sep 09, 2009 9:01 am
"How are things down in Engineering?" Asked Zak Howard over a bite of steak as he and Deirdre sat across from each other at a table in the lounge.
"Couldn't be better," Lieutenant Commander Deirdre McGowan replied, smiling. "Now that I'm certain that Moretti won't scratch the paint I can be back down there more often, not that it wasn't in capable hands with MacMoran." She dug in to her fried fish and chips.
"Does that mean we might get to spend a little time together for a change?" He asked.
"We've been spending time together," Deirdre said, scowling over a chip. "What do you think we're doing now?"
"Being unconscious in bed together doesn't count, darling, nor does a quick lunch in the mess. You know, like we were before the Commander came on board?" He pointed a fork full of baked potato at her. "Dating again?"
"Oh, that..." Deirdre said with a scowl.
"You are," Zak said with a laugh, "the most frustrating woman at times. Now don't get me wrong, my manly ego is overjoyed that you don't mind jumping in between the sheets with me at any time, but we both know there's more to our relationship than good sex."
"Yes, well..." Deirdre said, flummoxed. "I'm a simple woman, Zak. I don't need a bunch of frills and frippery."
"Ha! Simple woman my ass," Zak retorted. "But nonetheless, even if you don't like the 'frills and frippery' you're going to get them, because I want them."
"What exactly do you have in mind?" She asked after scowling at his insistence of her complicated nature.
"Uh-uh, nope," he said, waving his fork negatively. "Part of the whole thing is the surprise."
"I don't like surprises," she responded darkly.
"You'll live."
***
Later as she sat scowling over the paperwork that had appeared nefariously in her inbox during her absence at lunch, there was a knock on the door. Expecting one of her engineers, she looked up but instead there was an unknown disembodied head... or at least it appeared that way at first glance as the rest of the yeoman standing there was just poking her head around the frame.
"Yes?"
"Excuse me Commander, I have something for you," the young female yeoman said.
"Well, bang it on the desk then," Deirdre replied, expecting a crate full of PADDs with administrative drudgery inside.
Once the yeoman came fully into view however she placed a large vase filled with an assortment of flowers onto her desk. Before she could turn around and scurry out of the office, Deirdre's voice lashed out.
"What in the name of everything holy is that?" She demanded, as her Engineers outside were leaning toward her office trying to catch the conversation.
"Flowers, ma'am," the yeoman replied rather obviously.
"Well I can see that, I'm not a bloody moron. Why are they on my desk?"
"I was asked to deliver them to you, ma'am," the yeoman replied, again as if this were a rather simple matter.
"By whom?" Deirdre demanded, now risen from her seat with her hands fisted on her hips, yet avoiding the flowers as if they were a potential incendiary device.
"All of the information is on the card, ma'am," the yeoman replied. Before the annoyed Chief Engineer could ask "what card" the yeoman anticipated and then pulled it out of the flowers. She held it out.
Deirdre snapped it out of the yeoman's hands. Sure enough the envelope was labeled simply "Deirdre" in a frilly script. Tearing it open, she looked aghast at the card's front, which was illustrated with a flowery meadow and two silhouetted lovers prancing hand in hand through it. Opening it to the inside, she read the personalized message.
"Holosuite 1, 2000 hours, you and me, naked. Don't argue, either...
XOXO Zak"
She imitated a guppy for a few moments as her mouth ineffectually attempted to form words. Finally, noticing the yeoman fidgeting a bit in the door frame, her head snapped up.
"Did you see this?" She demanded to know, flapping the card.
"No ma'am," the yeoman replied. "The sealed envelope was already in the flowers when I arrived in Lieutenant Howard's office. He asked me to deliver it to you as is." Anticipating Deidre's next outburst (as good yeomen seemed to show psychic or telepathic abilities regardless of their species), she added. "I was just going off duty, ma'am, he asked as a favor." Deirdre's first response was a growl. Considering the yeoman's usual deliveries of paperwork, she was used to this response.
"Fine. Fine. Fine!" Deirde said, wanting to start pacing the office if only there was room for that. "Fine," she repeated. "You may go."
The yeoman lost no time hot-footing it out of there.
Intending to march straight down to Zak's office and demand an explanation, she started to pick up the flowers but then her hand jerked away from them as if she'd been shocked. "I'd look like a bloody fool carrying those through the corridors," she said to herself. Instead she shoved the card back into the envelope, exited her office (making sure to lock it behind her), and then stormed out of Main Engineering.
After a quick stalk through the corridors, a turbolift ride where the other two occupants shrank back and huddled in the rear of the tube upon her entry, and then another stalk through the corridors, she arrived at the door to Zak's office near cargo bay 2. Without bothering to chime, she let herself in, marched in front of his desk and slammed the envelope down on his desk.
"Assuming your brain hasn't already leaked from your ears I'll be sure to knock whatever is left of it out. What the bloody hell is this supposed to be?" She demanded with a snarl.
Zak looked up, smiled benignly. "Why Dee, what a pleasant surprise, can I help you with something?" He chuckled when her response was to grab him by the collar and yank him toward her over the desk. "Well if this is what you had in mind, let me make sure the door's locked."
"Aargh!"
"Ooh, are we finally doing the Tarzan and Jane role play? Oof! I'll take that as a no," he added after Deirdre landed a fist in his stomach.
"You can't just send me flowers to my office with a card telling me to be naked in the holosuite!"
"Actually, I can. I managed to squeeze in picking them from the biology, and yes I did have permission, and then the card before my lunch break was over. Yeoman Waverly wasn't on duty when she delivered them, so I didn't break any regulations."
"Damn the regulations," Deirdre said. "Do you know what my engineers are talking about in ME right now?"
"The sweet and loving gesture from their boss' honey bear?"
"Yes, and..." She trailed off, suddenly looking at Zak as if he'd transformed into a Tzenkethi before her very eyes. "'Loving,' did you say?"
"Yes," he said, using her shock to disentangle her fist from his uniform front.
"You can't love me!" She replied.
"Oh yes I can, and I do. You're not my supervisor, so that's not breaking regulations either." Zak chuckled as Deirdre's face was a study in horror, shock and confusion. Perhaps most men would be frazzled by such a response, but it's precisely what he expected from her. "So you'll just have to live with it."
"But... you... I... How?" She spluttered.
"Dee... don't try to analyze it, because it's not a broken plasma conduit. Just roll with it, see how it goes. So... you never said, will you frolic with me in a holographic meadow tonight?"
"You're out of your mind... but oh, what the hell," she said, flustered.
"Such a romantic," Zak said, still chuckling. "Now, as you're so fond of saying to me, 'shoo.' I have mounds of PADDs to go through before shift is over. And your PADD monster is no doubt slipping in a dozen more while you're down here."
"Right," Deirdre said. She turned to the door and was just stepping toward it when she heard Zak behind her.
"See you later, Dee," he said, then after a pause added: "Love you." Then he laughed as Deirdre stumbled out of the doorway.
"How are things down in Engineering?" Asked Zak Howard over a bite of steak as he and Deirdre sat across from each other at a table in the lounge.
"Couldn't be better," Lieutenant Commander Deirdre McGowan replied, smiling. "Now that I'm certain that Moretti won't scratch the paint I can be back down there more often, not that it wasn't in capable hands with MacMoran." She dug in to her fried fish and chips.
"Does that mean we might get to spend a little time together for a change?" He asked.
"We've been spending time together," Deirdre said, scowling over a chip. "What do you think we're doing now?"
"Being unconscious in bed together doesn't count, darling, nor does a quick lunch in the mess. You know, like we were before the Commander came on board?" He pointed a fork full of baked potato at her. "Dating again?"
"Oh, that..." Deirdre said with a scowl.
"You are," Zak said with a laugh, "the most frustrating woman at times. Now don't get me wrong, my manly ego is overjoyed that you don't mind jumping in between the sheets with me at any time, but we both know there's more to our relationship than good sex."
"Yes, well..." Deirdre said, flummoxed. "I'm a simple woman, Zak. I don't need a bunch of frills and frippery."
"Ha! Simple woman my ass," Zak retorted. "But nonetheless, even if you don't like the 'frills and frippery' you're going to get them, because I want them."
"What exactly do you have in mind?" She asked after scowling at his insistence of her complicated nature.
"Uh-uh, nope," he said, waving his fork negatively. "Part of the whole thing is the surprise."
"I don't like surprises," she responded darkly.
"You'll live."
***
Later as she sat scowling over the paperwork that had appeared nefariously in her inbox during her absence at lunch, there was a knock on the door. Expecting one of her engineers, she looked up but instead there was an unknown disembodied head... or at least it appeared that way at first glance as the rest of the yeoman standing there was just poking her head around the frame.
"Yes?"
"Excuse me Commander, I have something for you," the young female yeoman said.
"Well, bang it on the desk then," Deirdre replied, expecting a crate full of PADDs with administrative drudgery inside.
Once the yeoman came fully into view however she placed a large vase filled with an assortment of flowers onto her desk. Before she could turn around and scurry out of the office, Deirdre's voice lashed out.
"What in the name of everything holy is that?" She demanded, as her Engineers outside were leaning toward her office trying to catch the conversation.
"Flowers, ma'am," the yeoman replied rather obviously.
"Well I can see that, I'm not a bloody moron. Why are they on my desk?"
"I was asked to deliver them to you, ma'am," the yeoman replied, again as if this were a rather simple matter.
"By whom?" Deirdre demanded, now risen from her seat with her hands fisted on her hips, yet avoiding the flowers as if they were a potential incendiary device.
"All of the information is on the card, ma'am," the yeoman replied. Before the annoyed Chief Engineer could ask "what card" the yeoman anticipated and then pulled it out of the flowers. She held it out.
Deirdre snapped it out of the yeoman's hands. Sure enough the envelope was labeled simply "Deirdre" in a frilly script. Tearing it open, she looked aghast at the card's front, which was illustrated with a flowery meadow and two silhouetted lovers prancing hand in hand through it. Opening it to the inside, she read the personalized message.
"Holosuite 1, 2000 hours, you and me, naked. Don't argue, either...
XOXO Zak"
She imitated a guppy for a few moments as her mouth ineffectually attempted to form words. Finally, noticing the yeoman fidgeting a bit in the door frame, her head snapped up.
"Did you see this?" She demanded to know, flapping the card.
"No ma'am," the yeoman replied. "The sealed envelope was already in the flowers when I arrived in Lieutenant Howard's office. He asked me to deliver it to you as is." Anticipating Deidre's next outburst (as good yeomen seemed to show psychic or telepathic abilities regardless of their species), she added. "I was just going off duty, ma'am, he asked as a favor." Deirdre's first response was a growl. Considering the yeoman's usual deliveries of paperwork, she was used to this response.
"Fine. Fine. Fine!" Deirde said, wanting to start pacing the office if only there was room for that. "Fine," she repeated. "You may go."
The yeoman lost no time hot-footing it out of there.
Intending to march straight down to Zak's office and demand an explanation, she started to pick up the flowers but then her hand jerked away from them as if she'd been shocked. "I'd look like a bloody fool carrying those through the corridors," she said to herself. Instead she shoved the card back into the envelope, exited her office (making sure to lock it behind her), and then stormed out of Main Engineering.
After a quick stalk through the corridors, a turbolift ride where the other two occupants shrank back and huddled in the rear of the tube upon her entry, and then another stalk through the corridors, she arrived at the door to Zak's office near cargo bay 2. Without bothering to chime, she let herself in, marched in front of his desk and slammed the envelope down on his desk.
"Assuming your brain hasn't already leaked from your ears I'll be sure to knock whatever is left of it out. What the bloody hell is this supposed to be?" She demanded with a snarl.
Zak looked up, smiled benignly. "Why Dee, what a pleasant surprise, can I help you with something?" He chuckled when her response was to grab him by the collar and yank him toward her over the desk. "Well if this is what you had in mind, let me make sure the door's locked."
"Aargh!"
"Ooh, are we finally doing the Tarzan and Jane role play? Oof! I'll take that as a no," he added after Deirdre landed a fist in his stomach.
"You can't just send me flowers to my office with a card telling me to be naked in the holosuite!"
"Actually, I can. I managed to squeeze in picking them from the biology, and yes I did have permission, and then the card before my lunch break was over. Yeoman Waverly wasn't on duty when she delivered them, so I didn't break any regulations."
"Damn the regulations," Deirdre said. "Do you know what my engineers are talking about in ME right now?"
"The sweet and loving gesture from their boss' honey bear?"
"Yes, and..." She trailed off, suddenly looking at Zak as if he'd transformed into a Tzenkethi before her very eyes. "'Loving,' did you say?"
"Yes," he said, using her shock to disentangle her fist from his uniform front.
"You can't love me!" She replied.
"Oh yes I can, and I do. You're not my supervisor, so that's not breaking regulations either." Zak chuckled as Deirdre's face was a study in horror, shock and confusion. Perhaps most men would be frazzled by such a response, but it's precisely what he expected from her. "So you'll just have to live with it."
"But... you... I... How?" She spluttered.
"Dee... don't try to analyze it, because it's not a broken plasma conduit. Just roll with it, see how it goes. So... you never said, will you frolic with me in a holographic meadow tonight?"
"You're out of your mind... but oh, what the hell," she said, flustered.
"Such a romantic," Zak said, still chuckling. "Now, as you're so fond of saying to me, 'shoo.' I have mounds of PADDs to go through before shift is over. And your PADD monster is no doubt slipping in a dozen more while you're down here."
"Right," Deirdre said. She turned to the door and was just stepping toward it when she heard Zak behind her.
"See you later, Dee," he said, then after a pause added: "Love you." Then he laughed as Deirdre stumbled out of the doorway.