Comfort From A Friend/Seeing Double?

[B'Etor Patterson 0]

B'Etor walked into the mess hall. Her eyes looked around, seeing what was available, but something in her eyes told whoever looked at her that she upset or angry about something, though she had a slight smile on her face. She reached over, getting a tray and then ordering the food she had decided on. She did a quick glance, not seeing the one person she had been avoiding the entire day. She sighed with relief, knowing he wasn't there.

 

Soon after her arrival, Josheua moved through the same doors. Offering one last laugh at a joke a fellow Ensign had said before the young lady moved on down the hall, not joining him in the mess. He glanced around, noticing B'Etor, waving to her before he began to move through the crowd of people towards her. She held the tray and happened to turn to sit at a table when she saw Josh. She got a look on her face that had a mix of relief at a friend, yet a hint of not wanting to be bothered. However, that never stopped Josh before and she did want to know how Sam was doing, so she nodded to him, sitting at a table.

 

After a short talk at the counter, Josh moved toward her with his own tray, a bowl of steaming creamy tomato soup and a glass of tea. He took the seat across from her and smiled. "Hey B'Etor, long time no see." He said, offering a casual smile as he put his napkin over his lap. She looked at him and nodded, starting to eat the salad she had ordered. Being a Klingon/Romulan, veggies weren't on the top of either species list. Eating something very out of the ordinary, she nodded. "I know, been busy." She looked into his eyes for a moment, then looked down, mixing the dressing more in her salad.

 

"Busy yet only an appetite for Salad?" he said. "I heard you delivered a baby today? Heck, I gone through that and I would need a cigar and a big steak." He said smiling, sipping at a spoon full of the still hot soup. She shrugged and bit her cheek slightly, pushing the salad away, not in the mood to eat. She looked back up to him nodding with a slight smile. "That I did. I have never delivered an actual child before. I mean I went through basic training on birth, but, little baby Zier is.. one of many firsts I will have on this ship." She nodded again, leaning back in her seat.

 

"How's Sam? Talk to her lately?" She quickly went onto a different subject, trying to veer him away from why she wasn’t in the mood to eat, or why she looked distracted. "No, I've plugged a number of messages over to the Arcadia for her but I haven‘t received anything back, just the same cryptic message. I haven't been able to get a hold of anyone over there either, that ship gone and got itself in something deep." he said, a hint of worry breaking through his usually calm and carefree voice.

 

"Then we both have something to worry about..." She said softly, not knowing she had said it out loud. She thought about Sam, but selfishly, her mind went back to her own problems. She toyed with the fork in the salad, shaking her head. "Sorry to hear that Josh. I am sure when she can, she will write back." "Now what was that about." He said, ducking down in an effort to bring her eyes to his. "We BOTH got somethin' to worry 'bout?"

 

She saw him trying to meet her gaze and looked up at him, shaking her head quickly. "Don't worry. No need to get you involved in anything." Just as she said that the door opened and she stiffened. Ensign Praxx walked in, not even acknowledging Josh or B'Etor. B'Etor's eyes got a hard look in them. Her breathing got deeper as if she were getting angry. "Call him over here and I will hurt you.."

 

He glanced from Praxx to B'Etor to Praxx to B'Etor and quirked an eyebrow. "I ain't goin’ to say a thing after that little exchange...." He looked at her closely. "Or lack there of..." He examined her face, trying to gauge what thoughts were running through her mind, though the myriad of emotions made any attempt futile. She looked like she was staring through Josh, but the slight movements of her eyes told Josh she was watching Praxx out of the corner of her eye. She watched him leave after a quick grab of food to god and she sighed, swallowing hard. She let out a shaky breath and looked down. "Sorry, I didn't mean to threaten you." She looked up at him and a wave of sadness covered her face. She had no idea it was not her Praxx, but the alternate Praxx that had passed her by.

 

"What's goin on between you two?" He said confused. The question alone make her eyes well with tears, but she quickly blinked them away. After the incident about Ensign MacKenzie, she swore she would not cry over Jaden. She looked at the table and bit her lip. "We had a fight... on shore leave... Apparently, he prefers that dip stick Ensign MacKenzie in Science, over me... So... I guess that was that..." Her voice drifted as she bit her lip, the shock of pain drawing blood, yet it made her stop any emotional response.

 

"What...I..." he looked to the door Praxx had just left and then to B'Etor. "B'Etor, I am sorry...I didn't know..." He said, feeling guilty for pressing the topic. "Here, finish your food, I got a good bottle of scotch. Unless you would prefer to go at me with your fists?" He forced a smile on his face, though obviously forced as concern filed his eyes. "He wants to be that way and go for the dip-witted and senseless, that is his choice. I just.." She let out another shaky breath and stood up, walking out quickly. She turned, in the opposite direction as Praxx went, quickly moving up the corridor. She knew she was going to cry, and she would be damned if she did it in front of a quarter of the crew.

 

Josh jumped up jogging after her. "B'Etor! B'Etor, stop." He bumped into a crewman, nearly sending the PADD's she had in her hand, flying through the air. He blinked for a moment as he apologized, swearing he had just seen her in the mess joking and drinking with a pair of friends. He shook his head and kept moving "B'Etor!" he finally caught up to her, moving next to her. She stopped, not looking at him, but the turbo lift doors. She sniffled and shook her head. "Josh..please.." Her voice was uneven as a few uneven gasps came out. She hated crying. To her and her culture, it was a sign of weakness, and she was far from weak.

 

"B'Etor, come on...." He looked at her. "You've seen me at my worst; and you helped me get through it." His mind wandered to his break down in the medical bay. "I'm your friend, if you can't be yourself around me, who?" he scanned her face. "Why...I miss.. I.." She leaned her arm against the wall, then her head against her arm, sobbing. She had held it for so long, though it had only been a day. "I love him...I have never loved any man.. before.. This is love, I never want it again." Her voice cracked a few times as she cried through the words.

 

He put his hand on her shoulder. "Come on. Let's get you back to your room, we can talk there." Guiding her into the turbo-lift and pressing the controls for her deck. "Sickbay.." She commanded and the turbo lift moved in a different direction. She shook her head quickly regaining her composure. "I need to go back to work. I can't.. not right now Josh.." She paused. "Do me a favor..?"

 

"Yeah?" He said looking at her, wishing he could convince her to try to convince her to get away from it, just for a moment. "Don't.. don't go to him..about this. Just, if you see him, act like nothing happened. Please?" She looked at him, her eyes pleading with him.

 

"Ok....I won't say a word...." He said, wanting to say more but having nothing to say. "Thanks.. Your a good friend Josh. Thanks." She nodded to him as the turbo lift doors opened and she stepped out, quickly walking towards Sickbay. He watched her go, his mind filled with confusion, he thought to himself as he watched her go, the turbo lift doors hissing shut. 'What the heck is going on around here?'

 

Moments later, the turbo lift arrived on the main engineering deck, the doors opening wide again and he stepped of, half looking at the floor, half in thought as he moved on automatic, nodding casually to the ensign waiting for it, in her blue uniform, before continuing on, not even making eye contact or registering who it was, lost in thoughts about Praxx, B'Etor, and Sam. "Ensign.." The voice was familiar to him, the pitch, even the side figured view he had caught out of the corner of his eyes. He glanced up towards the voice, as he registered the comment.

 

When he looked up, he saw the back of the woman who had B'Etor's figure, and long, thick curly hair, only it was in a ponytail. The doors closed, and as they did, she turned around, giving him a split second view of her face, then she was gone. His eyes widened and he felt his heart jump in his chest as a sudden fear crawled up his spine...