"Venting"

[Aidan Driscol 0]

"Venting"

A joined log by Doctor Lexia Tordai and Lieutenant Junior Grade Aidan Driscol

 

Lexia walked through the double doors of the mess hall looking down at the PADD in her hand. Not looking up she narrowly missed colliding with a few crewmen before finally bumping into one. "My apologies, Lt. Kassem," she said lightly and continued. She rubbed her eyes gently and placed the PADD down on an empty table before walking to the nearest replicator.

 

Aidan had not quite finished eating when he had told Kairi to go along and get some sleep. He was lost in thought and pretty tired. It had been a hell of a day. Sometimes he wondered if it wouldn't be great to have a family waiting for him when he returned from a long shift. On the other hand he also liked being able to just drop onto his bed and sleep as soon as he got to his quarters.

 

"Lady Grey," Lexia said to the replicator, looking over her options. "Luke warm. Plain bagel, black cherry cream cheese."

 

As he looked up he spotted Lexia standing in front of the replicator. He wondered if he still had time to get away unnoticed, he didn't much feel like... well, like what? Arguing? A discussion? Either way, Lexia required a lot of strength and a lot of attention both of which his brain was refusing him at the moment.

 

Lexia turned around with her food in one hand and tea in the other. She took her seat at the empty table and was about to start eating when she caught the glimpse out of the corner of her eye. ######, she thought. Her mind began chanting "Don't look, don't look..." but as with most things that only made her want to look more. Her eyes flickered up briefly, looked at him, and then turned back to her meal.

 

Aidan chuckled, she was trying to avoid him but couldn't help looking. Cue annoying scientist. He got up, walked over to her table and sat without waiting for an invitation. "Fancy seeing you here, Doctor Tordai."

 

Why had she looked... "We must quit meeting like this, Lieutenant," she countered without looking up from her plate or her PADD. Let the games begin.

 

"Meeting like what? Oh gosh, you saw that lustful glint in my eye, didn't you?" Maybe this was where he'd be able to release some of the stress, not a bad idea actually, but not good if they really wanted to have a somewhat working relationship at some point.

 

She looked up, quirked a single eyebrow, and then looked back down. "Lust you say," she smirked, "I thought you had something in your eye..." She picked up the knife and began spreading the dark cream cheese along the bagel.

 

"Ooo, witty. But you've never had a problem with that. Either way, I've had a long day and I'm not in the mood for games. If you want to talk and be a friend, which I know must be a bit of a foreign concept for you, I'm in my quarters. I'll let you eat now, wouldn't wanna ruin that bagel for you." As he got up he wondered if she would come. He wondered about a great many things.

 

"Aidan."

 

"Lexia."

 

She could barely suppress the want to roll her eyes, she had not told him to go away or even, at least relative to her usual demeanor, been rude. "Sit down." She picked her bagel up and took a bite out of it, pushing the PADD away and propping her feet up in the seat across from her.

 

He didn't quite know why he did it, but he sat down. "I thought we had to stop meeting like this." He didn't know what he wanted, or expected from her, maybe it was all his fault. He was, after all, quite irritable today.

 

"As opposed to what, arguing in our quarters?" She smirked. "Relax Aidan, it was a joke...I make those from time to time." What the hell was his problem? After the past few weeks and the discussion they had had, she thought they should at least be closer than this...

 

"I'm tired of arguing, Lexia. And relaxing is something I probably won't do anymore today. I'm sorry, I'm not myself, I've been working too much, or something. I don't know what it is." He knew very well what it was. Work was piling up, sec was on the look out for him because of one tiny mistake, he had made Kairi cry and his almost girlfriend hated him. How was he supposed not to be irritable?

 

She sipped her tea. "What's wrong Aidan?" She made the point of using his first name.

 

He sighed deeply. "I have loads of work with investigating what happened on the Selshan ship; I had a little run in with one of the security people and I'm sure Lieutenant Commander JoN's will want a word with me, probably Lieutenant Condacin as well; and you... well, you seem to hate me." As he didn't feel particularly suicidal he didn't mention Kairi in all of this. There was no need to tell her anyway, the thing was dealt with.

 

He was hiding something, but she did not push it. "What happened with security?"

 

"Well, I've had a little problem with JoN's a while back, the thing was solved, now I wanted samples and apparently all of sec was on the look out for me so I wouldn't obtain them without permission. Can you believe that? Last time I was trying to save one of their people, someone they'd lost. And now that I needed something a Petty Officer has the nerve to make it sound like I did something despicable. I gave him a piece of my mind, that's all." Talking about that made him angry again, but he'd make sure this matter would get solved once and for all.

 

She placed the mug down on the table top, its contents almost gone. "Keep going," she knew there was more.

 

"I just thought we were all on the same team, we're alone out here we can't afford to start a 'my department is better than yours' thing, they screwed up and they're trying to pin it on someone else. The truth is they didn't get the opinion of a scientist or a doctor before using that stuff on the Selshans. I'm not letting them take out their anger on me. Especially since their screw up means a whole lot of extra hours in the lab for me." It felt good to get it all off his chest, he would never be able to speak this freely with any of the other crew members.

 

"Interdepartmental relations are always difficult," she smiled at the slight double entendre. "It will work itself out in time."

 

"I hope you're right, but either way, I will not let a Petty Officer treat me like that. Okay, I'm done." Aidan felt a little better now, which was a bit confusing in a way.

 

Lexia reached across the table and lay her hand on his gently. "Go get some sleep Aidan." She stood and leaned over, kissing him on the cheek briefly. "Go rest." With that she turned and left the Mess Hall.

 

Aidan looked after her looking puzzled, but after a minute he went to do exactly what she had told him to do.