Submerged Emotion

[Montague 0]

After every body left sickbay she opened the box again. The little tinfoiled bird was quite delicately made. She wondered who would dare to put this on her desk. Something else in the box caught her eye, she picked up a card. A breakfast invitation? Who does this any more?

 

It was for tuesday at 8. She looked at the clock, which was in half an hour. "I think I deserve something to eat after all this ..." The rest of injured had been taken cared of, most are discharged from sickbay, a particular security officer needed rest towards his recovery.

 

He woke up late, rushing, he brushed his teeth and brushed the tangled mess of hair that covered his head, it was 7:36 and he was almost late for an appointment with a certain doctor. Lazarus felt apprehension, for one thing, he hadnt been there to ask her, he didnt even know that she would be there... He sighed as he accepted the fact that she might not have recieved the invitation at all. Pulling on his unform, he started towards the door to his quarters.

 

The doctor finished her reports and washed her hands. Letting her carefully tied hair down, tough hours passed, more to come. She remembered what the captain had said about the ship's journey, one tough journey ahead. Exiting sickbay, she places her worries aside, just for today.

 

Smoothing his unform, he enters the mess hall, it is mostly empty and only a solitary MACO sits at a table far from the door, eating a bowl of shredded wheat. Lazarus sits down at a table near the middle of the room, wondering what to ask for. After a few minutes, he decides that it would be better if the doctor had a say as to their breakfast. Although he could use some eggs and toast....

 

Jasmine walked into the messhall, fatigued and sleepy, moved towards the table in the middle and poked the engineer who asked her to breakfast.

"How is your hand?"

 

He smiled, suddenly relieved.

"Oh, it's fine, you really did quite a job on it."

He manipulated a fork on the table to illustrate his point.

"What would you like to have for breakfast? I hear they have freshly squeezed orange juice today."

 

"Anything will be fine, thank you." She sat down and yawned.

 

He pointed to the menu, indicating the eggs and toast.

"Something simple?"

 

"Okay, and orange juice."

Something simple, but good nevertheless.

 

He smiled again and went to ask for the meal, wondering whether she would like to have some jam for her toast.

 

She looked around, wondering why only a lone MACO sat in the corner ... he looked asleep too.

 

Holding the trays with their plates , he walked towards the table carefully, making sure that he did not agitate the orange juice too much.

He set one of the trays down in front of the doctor and the other in front of his seat.

 

She looked at him, wondering the reason why he wanted to have breakfast with her.

"Thank you."

 

He sat down, bringing his chair closer to the table.

Noticing the doctor's gaze, he looked into her eyes, " Did you like my crane?"

 

She avoided looking at his eyes, and looked at the orange juice instead. "I like it, all glittery and shiny."

 

" You know, I recieved it was a gift from one of my friends at the Tokyo Academy When I recieved it, it made me happier for some strange reason, and the last time I saw you, I thought that you could use some cheering up."

 

"That's nice. Um ... Thank you, I guess."

She still looked at the orange juice in front of her.

 

He took a sip of his orange juice, the tangy flavor of the Florida oranges, a rare commodity after the Xindi attacks immediatly brightened his mood.

 

"You know this is the first time that I have ever had orange juice. I dont know how I lived without it."

 

She smiled lightly at the humor and sipped the juice in the glass.

 

Lazarus gazed at the doctor as she smiled and marveled at the way that she could continue to give the impression of a smile even while drinking her juice.

 

She felt the gaze on her she sit up and looked at the engineer. She felt uncomfortable that a mere stranger was able to make her feel uncomfortable with his gaze.

"What is it?"

 

"Oh, its nothing, I was just thinking about the problems in engineering, but I was slightly distracted"

He took a bite of toast.

 

"Oh."

She replied and sat back into her chair so she could eat the toast without much movement, an extremely lazy posture.

 

"Oh."

 

She replied and sat back into her chair so she could eat the toast without much movement, an extremely lazy posture.

 

Taking his clean napkin, he began folding it in elaborate geometric shapes as he put some jam on his toast.

 

She nibbled her toast slowly, as though to keep nibbling to stop herself from falling asleep. She sipped her orange juice again.

 

He speared some of his eggs with his fork and he thought about what to say next. Lazarus was suddenly aware of himself, and his surroundings, the entire place was tired, the ship itself seemed to groan as it moved through space. He sighed, and looked at his juice. He sipped at it cautiously.

 

She looked up at Montague. "You're not usually this quiet. Anything wrong?"

 

Biting his lip, he said, "It was my fault, wasnt it?"

" I bollixed up the whole works didn't I? I cannot stop thinking about it."

He sighed, and poked another piece of egg into his mouth.

 

"Pardon?" She wondered what he meant, finishing her eggs and toast.

 

"In engineering, instead of focusing on retoring secondary power, I activated a defense field... It was the wrong decision and alot of people got hurt because of it."

 

Suddenly it became clear to her. "Oh... that explains the lighting issue."

 

Shaking his head, he said, "that is not the reason why I asked you to breakfast."

He drained the rest of his juice, he gazed at Jas, still marveling at her simple grace, the way that she could defuse a tense situation... He knew what he wanted, but didnt know how she felt about it.

 

"Oh?" She wiped away the toast crumbs that somehow found themselves on to her face. "Then..."

 

" I lo--"

Thoughts flashed through his mind, he ran through all of the possible situations and their probablilities.

Without skipping a beat, he said, "-would like to get to know you better. I feel that you and I could be good friends."

He could not risk it, it was too soon...

 

She felt relieved somewhat, the man in front of her wanted to be her friend, but why would he go through all the trouble of this just to do that? She noted that the engineer hid something, just like she hid her own feelings. She smiled, to defend what she hid deep down.

"Okay, but you're still getting the same physicals as every body else."

 

He smiled, this time it was a genuine smile.

"I suppose I'd better get a move on, I"m going to have to do some work in engineering, do you want me to clear your tray?"

 

She stood up, wiping crumbs off her uniform. "That's okay you better get to your job, I don't want to slow you down."

He stacked their trays and moved to the waste recepticle.