Guess Who's Going to Dinner

Posted on Thu May 20, 2021 @ 9:09pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD

687 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Archangel
Location: Science Lab
Timeline: Before Reconcilli-con-carne

Nicole closed the messages on her screen and sat back, biting her thumb in thought. She'd just gotten home from her shift to an empty set of quarters and was pleasantly surprised to see a message from Camille saying she'd be working late. Nicole guiltily looked over at her boots left in the middle of the room and quickly shucked them into the corner where they belonged. One of the joys and woes of living with someone was discovering that you had little habits you never gave thought to that someone else is now affected by. For Camille, Nicole's leaving her shoes in the room were one of them. In response, Nicole suggested Camille putting a locator beacon on her glasses, which led to a light squabble and then an affectionate laugh and make up.

The last message gave her pause. AJ was inviting her to dinner. She assumed as a chance to "bury the hatchet" as Terrans say, but she wasn't sure if that meant she should automatically say yes.

Couples were partners, but not chained at the hip. Still, communication was her weak point, and she was working on that too. She quickly changed into something casual and walked quickly to the science labs. She keyed in the code to Camille's lab and walked in quietly, sneaking up and blowing gently in her ear. "Good evening," she said.

“Bonsoir,” Camille replied with a smile, though she kept her eyes forward on the glassware apparatus she was assembling. “What’s brought you here?”

"Well, something's come up," Nicole said. "AJ has asked me to dinner. I think he feels bad we fought about Maggie. I wanted to run it by you."

“Goggles, Nicole,” Camille said first, pointing to a tray of protective equipment on a nearby table. She had finished her assembly and was about to mix reagents. She put her own oversized goggles on over her glasses.

"Yes ma'am," Nicole said, giving a salute, then taking a pair of goggles and placing them over her eyes.

Once everyone was protected, she answered Nicole’s original point, though her eyes stayed on her work as she carefully began pouring various coloured liquids into the tall distillation apparatus. “I think it’s good of him to invite you to dinner. You two were close before I came aboard. I assume you were friends before you were together, and want to be friends again. An apology from him will help that, non?”

"Oui," Nicole said, "but given that we were more than mere friends, I wanted to make sure I considered your feelings in the matter."

“There was a time,” Camille said as she poured the last reagent into the flask, “that I would’ve found this dinner threatening. But we’re in a good place. He’s a good and honourable man. You’re open and honest with me, now more than ever; a few weeks ago I’m not sure you would have told me about this. But go, enjoy your dinner. I’ll be here for hours.” She gestured for Nicole to step back and she activated a heating element beneath the lowest flask.

Nicole's chest puffed up a bit with pride. Outwardly, she didn't go seeking validation, but hearing Camille confirm her progress put a smile on her face. "Tu vesht-ashau," she said. She kissed Camille's temple gently and rubbed her arm. "Enjoy your bubbling brew," she said, walking towards the door.

She got a wicked grin and tossed over her shoulder, "and if I bring him back to our quarters for a snog, I promise to share when you get home." She blew a kiss and hurried out the doors.

“Hey!” Camille called back. She couldn’t leave her setup to give playful chase, but she grinned as she turned back to her work. She did, however, have a free hand, so she tapped her commbadge. “Lévesque to Anderson. Just remember to take off your safety goggles first.” She hurriedly closed the channel and continued watching her mechanism for the desired result.

 

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