A Budding Relationship? (Part 2 of 2)

[B'Etor Patterson 0]

Marius walked along the street, next to B'Etor. He sighed in satisfaction after the wonderful meal. The lights of a theater could be seen just over the crest of the hilly road.

 

She walked with him, looking at him, then around. The chill from the San Francisco Bay made her shiver, but it didn't bother her. She took a deep breath in, smiling a little. "Thank you for dinner. I am still amazed we actually did this."

 

Marius laughed. "Actually, me too. I'm always so busy or distracted, I don't know how I found the time to arrange this... But I'm glad I did." He smiled at her.

 

She laughed and nodded. "Yeah, busy getting electrocuted, taking plasma shots to the chest, and ducking exploding PADDs." She looked down, then to him. "You know, I.. said you owed me dinner a movie for a reason..." She looked down. If her skin wasn't so mocha colored, he might have been able to see how red her cheeks may have become.

 

Marius's emotions became nearly unreadable with the hundreds of emotions that seemed to occur at once. Perhaps most noticeable were confusion, curiosity, or something else. "Oh, really?"

 

She looked at her feet, crossing her arms over her chest, nodding, avoiding his eyes, but the slight smirk on her face told him she was happy, well as happy as she could project for a woman with naturally agressive features. "Yeah.. It was my cheap attempt at being flirtatious. I had never done it before, and it kinda blurted out before I thought about it."

 

Now it was Marius's turn to blush, and unfortunately, he was pale enough to show. A grin momentarily appeared on his face before he looked away, out at the buildings lining the street. "Haha... Well, I thought it was an awesome attempt... better than I could do, definitely."

 

She heard him and looked at him, seeing the red on his cheeks. "Did you really? So I should be flattered you fell for the attempt, but actually asking me out to dinner, and then actually following through on your offer?" She smiled more to him. Her smile looked more Romulan than human. Her teeth were white and straight, not rough edged and dark, like most Klingons.

 

Marius laughed, trying to force the red out of his face. "I guess so. After all, I've never done so much arranging for something not work-related."

 

She nodded. "Then I am flattered, and honored. To think you worked this hard, to impress me. No one has never done that before, except my father." She nudged him gently, with her elbow. "Thank you, for making me feel special. It is a rare treat to be spoiled like this."

 

Marius looked back at her. Although his face was calm again, he seemed to glow inside with joy. "And thanks for accepting it." At that moment, they reached the crest of the hill they had been climbing up. There, in front of them, most of the city could be seen sprawling, and the bay spread out in front of them, reflecting the setting sun's rays. The sky was colored like painting above them on a giant canvas.

 

She nodded. "At least now I know to accept more of these offers, since the company is so nice. Almost sweet. You are so different off duty, versus on duty. She looked around, seeing the view of the city. She smiled as her thick curly hair moved slightly with the wind, a few random ringlets moving around her face. "It's almost perfect..."

 

Marius nodded in agreement. He shifted over a few steps, so that now B'Etor stood in front of him, part of his view as much as the city, the bay, and the sunset. "Now it is perfect."

 

She looked behind her, seeing him standing there. "Because I am blocking your view, or because you can see everything?" Her naturally arched brows raising slightly as her spine arched to look at him.

 

Marius laughed. "Because I can see everything."

 

She turned back around. If his view wasn't obscured, who was she to argue. She looked out, the faintest scent of Lavender and Vanilla smelt. It some a ntural odor Klingon's secreted, who was she to disagree with anatomy.

 

Marius edged closer, hesitating a moment, then nudged her arm as he stood next to her, admiring the view. He breathed in deeply, catching her scent.

 

She looked over at him again and smiled. "I know, it's odd that I smell like that. It is a Klingon hormone thing. I don't mind it, but the Klingon males must be embarrassed." She felt his arm touch hers and she smiled to him.

 

Marius smirked. "I've never noticed. But then again, I've never been this close to a Klingon."

 

She let out a laugh. "I have never been this close to a Romulan. Wait, I can't say that. You have as much Romulan in you as I do." She smiled more. "I believe you are the only one, of the two of us, to have a new experience."

 

Marius mocked being insulted. "You mean I don't have anything original to contribute?"

 

She looked like she was pondering the question. "Well... you are the first.. nope, we are both half and half. Hmm.. You are the first Engineer I have been this close to, more than five times.." She blinked, wondering if that counted.

 

Marius laughed. "I guess that can do..." He looked at the theater a short distance off, where the line was quickly shortening. "We should get to the theater, before we miss all the showtimes. Come on, I still haven't paid off all my debt!"

 

She looked at him, then the theater, then back to the view. "Hey, wanna..blow off the movie, and just stay here?" She looked up. "Computer, blanket, square, 9 feet by 9 feet." She watched it appear, folded up, between them.

 

Marius shrugged. "Sure. That works too." He picked up the blanket, unfolding it.

 

She looked at him and sat down on the blanket, leaning back on her hands, her legs in front of her, crossed at the ankle. "Besides.. it wasn't a debt. It was an offer. Even if we called it a debt.." She looked at him, meeting his eyes. "It was paid off the minute I walked in and realized you meant it."

 

Marius sat next to her, cross-legged. He continued to stare out at the bay. "I just wanted to help, or something. You know, and see you... happy."

 

She looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Are you saying I don't seem happy?" She tilted her head, realizing she didn't normally seem happy. She was either angry, upset, moody, rude, or drugged up from being shot. She looked down, biting her cheek.

 

Marius shook his head. "Not necessarily. I mean like, I wanted to see you truly happy, with nothing weighing on your mind."

 

She laughed, her head falling back, her laugh slightly dep, but had a high pitched edge to it. "It has been a long time since I have felt like that." She looked back to him, smiling, with a nod. "Congratuations. You succeeded. This is the first time I have been happy, without thinking about what happened, what may happen, what should have happened, so on and so on." She leaned over, kissing his cheek, her chocolate colored lips touching his pale skin softly. "Once again, thank you." She spoke softly, being near his ear.

 

Marius turned to face her, looking into her eyes. Suddenly he was aware of how close they were. He smiled at her.

 

She smiled back, then with a soft laugh, she turned, seeing Alcatraz's silhoutte in the distance, as well as the lit Golden Gate Bridge.

 

Marius followed her gaze out to the bridge. He sat there for a moment, content to relax there next to her.

 

She gently moved her ankles around, as if swaying her legs. Sighing softly, she looked out at Fisherman's Wharf. "So, will I get the priviledge of taking you to one of my favorite places, or now that your debt is fulfilled..." She faded off. She didn't know where this put them. She wanted to get to know him better, now she had her chance. It felt like a date, he acted like it was a date, yet, not used to dating, she wasn't sure.

 

Marius smiled. "I'd love that." Honestly, Marius still couldn't understand his feelings. He'd never felt like this before, not even with Brooke during his short time between ship assignments. It was almost like he wasn't himself. He acted without thinking, but just going off impulses and gut feelings. Yet so far, he was pleased with the results. He wasn't complaining.

 

She smiled to him, nodding. "Deal. Now I just need to think of someplace that I enjoyed as a child." She looked at him, wondering what he was thinking. His look said one thing, but his face kept changing. She could normally read her patients, but she couldn't read him.

 

Marius shook his head, deciding to think about everything later. He turned to look at B'Etor. "I'm sure you can find someplace." He watched the sun as it began to disappear behind the line of mountains.

 

"I'm sure." She leaned up, pulling her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees. She let out a long breath. Longer than most people, since she had three lungs, not two. "Marius?"

 

"Hm?" He continued to watch the sun, which soon sunk to a mere sliver peeking over the hilltops.

 

She looked towards him, smiling softly, with a soft shake of her head. "Nothing, just, I like the way your name sounds. Marius.. sounds ancient, noble." She just said it, not someone to beat around the bush, or was she.

 

"Huh... I hadn't ever really thought about it before." He paused, rolling his name over his tongue silently, followed by B'Etor's, trying to consider each name.

 

"I don't usually analyze peoples name, but your is different. Maria, Ruth, Joe, those are..common.. in a way. Yours is different, unique." She watched the sky change into a colorful rainbow of autumn colors.

 

Marius smirked. "It's still human, at least partially. It's just an older version of Mario, I think. Yours is just as unique."

 

"Actually it is Ancient Earth Latin. The root word maris, which means male. Or the Roman mar, meaning of the sea. Whichever you prefer." She thought about her name. "I don't know..from what I hear, my name was the last thing my mother said, so it stuck." She shrugged, as she squinted as the sun disappeared completely.

 

Marius smirked. "It's still partially Romulan. You can't say it's coincidence that the planets Romulus and Remus have the same names as the Roman brothers in lore, or that Romulan society shares many characteristics with ancient Roman culture."

 

"I have notived that. There are many coincidences between Earth and other Planets. Ironic, yet, mysterious." She nodded.

 

Marius watched as the sun completely disappeared. The remaining rays of light streaking the sun slowly began to retreat. Marius layed down staring straight up into the sky, where the stars began to appear.

 

She watched him and decided to follow, only she laid close to him. She slid her hand over his, hoping it didn't bother him. Her skin was actually quite soft, for a Klingon, as her fingers wrapped around his. "This is perfect..."

 

He clasped her hand in his. With the stars twinkling above, Marius looked down at her. "Yes. This is perfect."

 

(The End..or is it?)