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Part two of Chapter Three. Part One can be found here.
Jim walked into his quarters at 14:45 and began to make his way over to his desk.
“Good, I was hoping you’d come back early,” a voice said from the couch. Jim jumped where he stood.
“Jesus, Bones!”
“We need to talk,” Bones answered. “It’s about this whole wedding thing.”
“Well, we’re about to, Madelyne will be online in a few minutes,” Jim answered brightly. “She’s got a few restaurants for the reception, I’m thinking we’ll just do a set menu. Buffets are always questionable and...”
“Stop.” Bones held up both his hands. “Just...stop. This is my problem, right here.”
“You want a buffet?” Understandably, Jim was confused.
“No, I don’t give a shit about that. I’m talking about you barging ahead and not caring about what I want,” Bones snapped.
He looked at him and the expression on his face was both hurt and betrayed. “I don’t understand.”
“Jim you just...you decided for both of us that we’re having this huge wedding. You decided who was going to pay for it. You even decided on the location and Jo being in the wedding party. You did all of this without ever once stopping to ask me what I wanted.” The doctor raked one hand through his hair frustratedly. “I mean did it ever occur to you that since I’ve already been married I wouldn’t want all of this? That I’d want something quiet, just us and maybe our friends as witnesses?”
“Excuse the fuck out of me,” Jim snapped back. “This is something that I never thought I’d get to do, Bones, and we both know I don’t do things halfway! So now you’re telling me you don’t want to go through with this?”
“I didn’t say that, I’m saying you need to talk to me about the wedding plans instead of just telling me what’s going to happen!”
The anger drained out of Jim at that and a concerned look crossed his face. “You really feel like I’ve been ordering you around?”
“Yes, I do,” Bones spat. “You hired a wedding planner without talking to me. You picked a location without talking to me. I bet you even asked Pike to officiate without asking me if I’d be okay with it.”
Jim grimaced. He sat on the edge of the desk with a guilty expression, causing Bones to loudly scoff.
“I knew it. I just...I goddamn knew it.” He started to pace around the room. “Just why am I even bothering to show up? You obviously don’t need me.”
“No Bones, I just...I’m sorry,” Jim pleaded. “I guess I got so excited to be doing this that I wasn’t thinking. That’s really unfair, and I’m so sorry. Like I said, I never thought I’d do this before I fell in love with you, and now that I get to I just...I want it to be right. Perfect, even.” He looked down at the floor. “None of that stuff matters if you’re unhappy. I’m sorry.”
Pretty much all the anger left Bones at that and he crossed the room to take Jim’s hands in his.
“Hey. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have attacked you just now. That was also unfair.” Jim still wouldn’t meet his gaze, so he took one hand and gently lifted his chin. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you, I should have asked what was going on, and I get that you’re excited, I really do. I know you better than to jump to the conclusion that you just don’t care. So I’m genuinely sorry for saying that.”
Jim didn’t say anything, but he did nuzzle into his throat. Bones let him and wrapped his arms around him.
“It’s okay,” he finally mumbled, and Bones relaxed. “I’ll ask from now on. Promise.”
“Okay,” he answered as he rubbed light circles on his back. “It’s okay.”
“Do you want me to tell Madelyne to change the location?”
Bones thought for a moment. “Nah. I like the botanical gardens, it’ll be nice there.”
Jim nodded and moved closer to him. “What about the colors? Silver and white okay or do you want something else?”
“They’re fine, that’ll look good,” Bones conceded.
Shifting so that his head was on his shoulder, Jim made a small hm sound. “Dress uniforms or suits?”
“Suits,” Bones answered quickly. “I don’t want to get married as a captain and a lieutenant-commander, I want to get married as Jim and Bones.”
“That makes sense,” he answered. “Are you really okay with a big wedding?”
“If it’s what will make you happy, then it makes me happy.”
Jim finally began to smile at that. “Traditional vows or do we write our own?”
That was an easy one. “I’m not using the traditional ones again.”
“Writing our own it is. Although, are you really sure that’s a good idea?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
Jim hmed again. “Because how much better I am at public speaking than you. I don’t want you to feel like you look bad.”
The fuck?
“I beg your pardon. On the rare occasions I give them, my speeches get accolades.”
“Are you really saying yours are going to be better than mine?”
“That’s exactly what I’m getting at.” Bones poked Jim lightly in the side. “I’ll even go so far as to bet you that mine are better.”
“Oh yeah,” Jim said as he pulled back to face him. “Name the stakes.”
“Winner picks the song.”
The captain raised both of his eyebrows. “The song, like the one we dance to?”
“The very same.”
After thinking it over for a moment, Jim grinned. “You’re on,” he said as he nuzzled back into him. Bones grinned a bit in response.
“Hope you like Brad Paisely.”
Jim pulled back again. “You wouldn’t.”
The look on his face could only be described as evil. “You won’t know until it’s time.”
“Bastard.”
“I am, yeah.”
Before Jim could reply the whistle of the communicator sounded.
Bridge to Captain Kirk. Mrs. Summers is on the line for you. Would you like me to patch her through to your quarters?
“Yes, that’d be great. Thanks, Uhura.” He looked at Bones. “You want to sit or...”
“I’ll stand, you sit.”
Jim nodded and he moved to take the chair. Bones stood behind him, leaning over him a little.
It was showtime.
-----
“Okay, I admit I’m confused,” Nyota said from where she sat on the couch.
Spock stood before her with a somewhat strange expression. “About which part exactly?”
She gathered her thoughts for a moment, as she was unsure of how to phrase her question. “You’re essentially going into heat, and will do this again every seven years from here on out. There are only three ways to fix it. You can fight someone and...vanquish them, I suppose. You can meditate nearly constantly for the next five days. Or...we could have sex.” Uhura found herself shaking her head. “Seeing as we have sex fairly regularly,” she began and they both kind of marveled at the understatement, “I’m not understanding why we don’t just go with option C.”
“You have never witnessed the aftermath of pon farr. I have. It is not as simple as our normal...activities.”
“How so?” She was genuinely curious, tucking her legs up under her to get more comfortable.
“I...” Spock looked at a loss for a moment. He began to pace around the living room, which made her worried. Spock never paced. “My mother and father...it did not end well, each time it happened.”
That was vague.
“How so,” she repeated.
“She always required the use of a healer,” he said, beginning to elaborate.
“So it gets a little rough. That’s not that big of a deal, Spock, I’ve had rough before. I can take it.”
This made Spock freeze for a moment. While he was aware that Nyota had taken a few lovers before him, she had seldom made mention of them sexually. As he was never anything but gentle and considerate of her needs, he could only assume she was referring to one of those other men. A fact that was making the blood pound furiously within him, and he felt his skin turn incredibly hot.
The pon farr must have been progressing for him to become so irrational.
Shaking his head to clear it, he finally continued. “One time her shoulder was dislocated. Pon farr, by its very nature, can be extremely volatile. It is dangerous, for the Vulcan having it as they can go into the plak tow if not careful, and for his mate as the probability of injury is quite high indeed.”
“You think you’re going to hurt me,” Nyota answered. “Spock, we don’t know that you will. You’ve never done anything to suggest you would.”
“We also cannot rule it out,” he replied. “It is just as likely that I will become violent as it is not. I have never experienced this before to have a sample of how I may behave.” He began to pace. “There are simply too many unknown factors and I will not subject you to any sort of risk.”
“Maybe I’m not articulating properly,” she said as she stood. “I’m telling you that I understand there are risks involved. The risk is worth it to help you. Just...let me help you through this.”
“I do not agree,” Spock answered. “The third method, the extensive mediation, is the preferred method as it no chance of causing injury to either of us. I have been relieved of my duties to begin it, and Doctor M’Benga has given me medications to help ease my headaches.” He began to pull his blue tunic over his head. “I require the bedroom for the next two hours.”
As he began to make his way into the next room, Nyota shook her head.
“And if it doesn’t work?”
Spock hesitated before turning back to her. “As the captain is fond of saying, we do not know until we try.” He stepped all the way into the bedroom, and she could no longer see him.
Nyota narrowed her eyes at the doorway. She didn’t know which was more infuriating, his sudden treatment of her as if she was a porcelain doll or his stubborn refusal to see reason. She made a low, exasperated noise in the back of her throat.
“Eneh hwau' kllhwnia na imirrhlhhse,” she said to herself. As annoyed as she was, she did not wish to disturb Spock as he meditated. Best to leave the quarters all together. She checked the chronometer.
Fortunately, her lunch hour was almost up. She’d just go straight back to the bridge.
-----
Hikaru Sulu stood inside his quarters after changing into his regular clothes, a bouquet of the aforementioned Vulcan-Terran rose hybrids in his hand.
“Computer, locate crew member Chapel, Christine.”
Searching...located: recreation room, deck seven.
“Thanks,” he told the machine affectionately. To the rec room on deck seven he would go. He quickly stepped out into the hallway and into the turbo lift. It wasn’t long before he was at the appropriate level of the ship and he stepped off.
Hikaru whistled a bit as he kept walking, pausing only to push the entry code to the rec room. The door opened and he stepped inside. He took a long look around.
Riley was playing a console game in one corner. Ensign Colt was reading on a couch. Lieutenant Cohen and Lieutenant du Mais were looking at holos together and laughing.
No Christine.
Puzzled, he went over to the wall computer console. “Computer, locate crew member Chapel, Christine.
Searching...located: recreation room, deck seven.
Except no.
No, she wasn’t in the rec room on deck seven.
Maybe it was just a glitch.
Most likely, it was just a glitch. Computers made mistakes sometimes, right?
“Computer, locate crew member Sulu, Hikaru.”
Searching...located: recreation room, deck seven.
That was odd. Why was it working for him and not for her? It didn’t rule out a glitch, but it was incredibly strange.
He thought about asking a third time, but quickly talked himself out of it. Maybe he would just try her quarters. She said she was going to spend the day studying, and that was where she usually did her work. What did he have to lose? After all, her quarters were just on the next deck up.
Hikaru made his way back to the turbo lift and got off at the proper stop. He walked down the corridor, tracing the familiar path to her door. Without pushing the entry bell, he punched in her access code and stepped inside.
“Chris?”
No one was in the room. He checked her bathroom door; it was open, so she wasn’t using it.
He clenched his hand into a fist around the flowers, crushing the stems.
Okay so. She told him she would be in the rec room, and then was nowhere to be found. Then she wasn’t in her quarters. There were several other places on the ship he could check; he could check medical, he could go to the gym, or he could even try the mess hall.
None of that mattered, because now he had proof. Christine had lied to him. This meant in all probability she had been lying about the charts too.
He threw the flowers to the ground angrily.
Why?
Why was she lying to him?
After a moment, he squashed that reasoning. It didn’t matter why, what mattered was that she was doing it at all. He loved her, and she was lying to him.
What else was she lying to him about? What other secrets was she keeping?
Hikaru’s stomach tied itself up in knots. The worst part was that she knew how he felt about being lied to, about being deceived. He had explained it in depth after his falling out with Pavel.
And yet, she did it in spite of knowing this.
How could he trust her anymore?
He rubbed his hand down his face.
Hell, how could he even face her? How could even talk to her? He had to, he had to at least confront her, but he was so angry it was making him sick.
As he backed out of her room, he shut and relocked the door. He needed to do something, he was so angry he couldn’t see straight. He considered going to the gym and boxing.
Actually...that wasn’t a bad idea.
For the third time in as many minutes, he got on the turbo lift and went up to the deck that housed the gym. He didn’t care that he was in jeans and a sweater, he just needed to hit something. He walked right over to the punching bag, and without stretching or warming up, he began to wail on it.
The more he thought about it, the angrier and angrier he became. Little things began to come back to him, times when she begged off being with him. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was usually when they were on a planet. It sometimes happened for days at a time. Until now, he assumed that she just liked her space and so he gave it to her.
He kept hitting the bag, his hands starting to hurt a bit from the blows.
He was a fool. He was a complete and utter fool.
The only explanation he could come up with was that she was seeing someone else behind his back. The thought of being cheated on made him feel even worse and his hits became harder.
He kept punching and punching until his shirt was soaked with sweat and his hands were completely numb. His breathing was heavy and rapid.
His girlfriend was lying to him. Had probably always been lying to him.
Now the only question was...what could he do about it?
-----
Marla finished pulling up the file on her PADD.
“There it is,” she said and she held the PADD up for Julien to see. “I had to go in through a back door using phaser repair requests, but I did it.”
“This is very impressive,” he said as he read over the information. “You are certain you won’t get caught?”
She shook her head a few times. “No, had I done something more obvious like gone straight into security they’d have picked up on it. This way, you’ve got about thirty-six hours before they notice. That’s plenty of time.”
“Indeed,” he agreed with a note of awe in his voice. “I hate to ask, but I require another favor.”
“You need me to get the word out for you,” she said with a smile.
“Just one message, he will do the rest.” Folding his hands in front of him, he bowed a little. “I promise I will give you anything in return.”
“Anything?” She smiled at him, and it was coy.
“Anything. I am nothing if not a man of my word.”
Marla seemed to consider what he was saying for a moment. “It’s true, you’ve been nothing but honorable. It’s a rare thing to see, after dealing with these people.”
“I can imagine,” he said with a nod. “Here, before the guards come. I will give you the address and you can hide to deliver the message.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Marla said with a grin.
Chapter 3A | Chapter 4A
Jim walked into his quarters at 14:45 and began to make his way over to his desk.
“Good, I was hoping you’d come back early,” a voice said from the couch. Jim jumped where he stood.
“Jesus, Bones!”
“We need to talk,” Bones answered. “It’s about this whole wedding thing.”
“Well, we’re about to, Madelyne will be online in a few minutes,” Jim answered brightly. “She’s got a few restaurants for the reception, I’m thinking we’ll just do a set menu. Buffets are always questionable and...”
“Stop.” Bones held up both his hands. “Just...stop. This is my problem, right here.”
“You want a buffet?” Understandably, Jim was confused.
“No, I don’t give a shit about that. I’m talking about you barging ahead and not caring about what I want,” Bones snapped.
He looked at him and the expression on his face was both hurt and betrayed. “I don’t understand.”
“Jim you just...you decided for both of us that we’re having this huge wedding. You decided who was going to pay for it. You even decided on the location and Jo being in the wedding party. You did all of this without ever once stopping to ask me what I wanted.” The doctor raked one hand through his hair frustratedly. “I mean did it ever occur to you that since I’ve already been married I wouldn’t want all of this? That I’d want something quiet, just us and maybe our friends as witnesses?”
“Excuse the fuck out of me,” Jim snapped back. “This is something that I never thought I’d get to do, Bones, and we both know I don’t do things halfway! So now you’re telling me you don’t want to go through with this?”
“I didn’t say that, I’m saying you need to talk to me about the wedding plans instead of just telling me what’s going to happen!”
The anger drained out of Jim at that and a concerned look crossed his face. “You really feel like I’ve been ordering you around?”
“Yes, I do,” Bones spat. “You hired a wedding planner without talking to me. You picked a location without talking to me. I bet you even asked Pike to officiate without asking me if I’d be okay with it.”
Jim grimaced. He sat on the edge of the desk with a guilty expression, causing Bones to loudly scoff.
“I knew it. I just...I goddamn knew it.” He started to pace around the room. “Just why am I even bothering to show up? You obviously don’t need me.”
“No Bones, I just...I’m sorry,” Jim pleaded. “I guess I got so excited to be doing this that I wasn’t thinking. That’s really unfair, and I’m so sorry. Like I said, I never thought I’d do this before I fell in love with you, and now that I get to I just...I want it to be right. Perfect, even.” He looked down at the floor. “None of that stuff matters if you’re unhappy. I’m sorry.”
Pretty much all the anger left Bones at that and he crossed the room to take Jim’s hands in his.
“Hey. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have attacked you just now. That was also unfair.” Jim still wouldn’t meet his gaze, so he took one hand and gently lifted his chin. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you, I should have asked what was going on, and I get that you’re excited, I really do. I know you better than to jump to the conclusion that you just don’t care. So I’m genuinely sorry for saying that.”
Jim didn’t say anything, but he did nuzzle into his throat. Bones let him and wrapped his arms around him.
“It’s okay,” he finally mumbled, and Bones relaxed. “I’ll ask from now on. Promise.”
“Okay,” he answered as he rubbed light circles on his back. “It’s okay.”
“Do you want me to tell Madelyne to change the location?”
Bones thought for a moment. “Nah. I like the botanical gardens, it’ll be nice there.”
Jim nodded and moved closer to him. “What about the colors? Silver and white okay or do you want something else?”
“They’re fine, that’ll look good,” Bones conceded.
Shifting so that his head was on his shoulder, Jim made a small hm sound. “Dress uniforms or suits?”
“Suits,” Bones answered quickly. “I don’t want to get married as a captain and a lieutenant-commander, I want to get married as Jim and Bones.”
“That makes sense,” he answered. “Are you really okay with a big wedding?”
“If it’s what will make you happy, then it makes me happy.”
Jim finally began to smile at that. “Traditional vows or do we write our own?”
That was an easy one. “I’m not using the traditional ones again.”
“Writing our own it is. Although, are you really sure that’s a good idea?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
Jim hmed again. “Because how much better I am at public speaking than you. I don’t want you to feel like you look bad.”
The fuck?
“I beg your pardon. On the rare occasions I give them, my speeches get accolades.”
“Are you really saying yours are going to be better than mine?”
“That’s exactly what I’m getting at.” Bones poked Jim lightly in the side. “I’ll even go so far as to bet you that mine are better.”
“Oh yeah,” Jim said as he pulled back to face him. “Name the stakes.”
“Winner picks the song.”
The captain raised both of his eyebrows. “The song, like the one we dance to?”
“The very same.”
After thinking it over for a moment, Jim grinned. “You’re on,” he said as he nuzzled back into him. Bones grinned a bit in response.
“Hope you like Brad Paisely.”
Jim pulled back again. “You wouldn’t.”
The look on his face could only be described as evil. “You won’t know until it’s time.”
“Bastard.”
“I am, yeah.”
Before Jim could reply the whistle of the communicator sounded.
Bridge to Captain Kirk. Mrs. Summers is on the line for you. Would you like me to patch her through to your quarters?
“Yes, that’d be great. Thanks, Uhura.” He looked at Bones. “You want to sit or...”
“I’ll stand, you sit.”
Jim nodded and he moved to take the chair. Bones stood behind him, leaning over him a little.
It was showtime.
“Okay, I admit I’m confused,” Nyota said from where she sat on the couch.
Spock stood before her with a somewhat strange expression. “About which part exactly?”
She gathered her thoughts for a moment, as she was unsure of how to phrase her question. “You’re essentially going into heat, and will do this again every seven years from here on out. There are only three ways to fix it. You can fight someone and...vanquish them, I suppose. You can meditate nearly constantly for the next five days. Or...we could have sex.” Uhura found herself shaking her head. “Seeing as we have sex fairly regularly,” she began and they both kind of marveled at the understatement, “I’m not understanding why we don’t just go with option C.”
“You have never witnessed the aftermath of pon farr. I have. It is not as simple as our normal...activities.”
“How so?” She was genuinely curious, tucking her legs up under her to get more comfortable.
“I...” Spock looked at a loss for a moment. He began to pace around the living room, which made her worried. Spock never paced. “My mother and father...it did not end well, each time it happened.”
That was vague.
“How so,” she repeated.
“She always required the use of a healer,” he said, beginning to elaborate.
“So it gets a little rough. That’s not that big of a deal, Spock, I’ve had rough before. I can take it.”
This made Spock freeze for a moment. While he was aware that Nyota had taken a few lovers before him, she had seldom made mention of them sexually. As he was never anything but gentle and considerate of her needs, he could only assume she was referring to one of those other men. A fact that was making the blood pound furiously within him, and he felt his skin turn incredibly hot.
The pon farr must have been progressing for him to become so irrational.
Shaking his head to clear it, he finally continued. “One time her shoulder was dislocated. Pon farr, by its very nature, can be extremely volatile. It is dangerous, for the Vulcan having it as they can go into the plak tow if not careful, and for his mate as the probability of injury is quite high indeed.”
“You think you’re going to hurt me,” Nyota answered. “Spock, we don’t know that you will. You’ve never done anything to suggest you would.”
“We also cannot rule it out,” he replied. “It is just as likely that I will become violent as it is not. I have never experienced this before to have a sample of how I may behave.” He began to pace. “There are simply too many unknown factors and I will not subject you to any sort of risk.”
“Maybe I’m not articulating properly,” she said as she stood. “I’m telling you that I understand there are risks involved. The risk is worth it to help you. Just...let me help you through this.”
“I do not agree,” Spock answered. “The third method, the extensive mediation, is the preferred method as it no chance of causing injury to either of us. I have been relieved of my duties to begin it, and Doctor M’Benga has given me medications to help ease my headaches.” He began to pull his blue tunic over his head. “I require the bedroom for the next two hours.”
As he began to make his way into the next room, Nyota shook her head.
“And if it doesn’t work?”
Spock hesitated before turning back to her. “As the captain is fond of saying, we do not know until we try.” He stepped all the way into the bedroom, and she could no longer see him.
Nyota narrowed her eyes at the doorway. She didn’t know which was more infuriating, his sudden treatment of her as if she was a porcelain doll or his stubborn refusal to see reason. She made a low, exasperated noise in the back of her throat.
“Eneh hwau' kllhwnia na imirrhlhhse,” she said to herself. As annoyed as she was, she did not wish to disturb Spock as he meditated. Best to leave the quarters all together. She checked the chronometer.
Fortunately, her lunch hour was almost up. She’d just go straight back to the bridge.
Hikaru Sulu stood inside his quarters after changing into his regular clothes, a bouquet of the aforementioned Vulcan-Terran rose hybrids in his hand.
“Computer, locate crew member Chapel, Christine.”
Searching...located: recreation room, deck seven.
“Thanks,” he told the machine affectionately. To the rec room on deck seven he would go. He quickly stepped out into the hallway and into the turbo lift. It wasn’t long before he was at the appropriate level of the ship and he stepped off.
Hikaru whistled a bit as he kept walking, pausing only to push the entry code to the rec room. The door opened and he stepped inside. He took a long look around.
Riley was playing a console game in one corner. Ensign Colt was reading on a couch. Lieutenant Cohen and Lieutenant du Mais were looking at holos together and laughing.
No Christine.
Puzzled, he went over to the wall computer console. “Computer, locate crew member Chapel, Christine.
Searching...located: recreation room, deck seven.
Except no.
No, she wasn’t in the rec room on deck seven.
Maybe it was just a glitch.
Most likely, it was just a glitch. Computers made mistakes sometimes, right?
“Computer, locate crew member Sulu, Hikaru.”
Searching...located: recreation room, deck seven.
That was odd. Why was it working for him and not for her? It didn’t rule out a glitch, but it was incredibly strange.
He thought about asking a third time, but quickly talked himself out of it. Maybe he would just try her quarters. She said she was going to spend the day studying, and that was where she usually did her work. What did he have to lose? After all, her quarters were just on the next deck up.
Hikaru made his way back to the turbo lift and got off at the proper stop. He walked down the corridor, tracing the familiar path to her door. Without pushing the entry bell, he punched in her access code and stepped inside.
“Chris?”
No one was in the room. He checked her bathroom door; it was open, so she wasn’t using it.
He clenched his hand into a fist around the flowers, crushing the stems.
Okay so. She told him she would be in the rec room, and then was nowhere to be found. Then she wasn’t in her quarters. There were several other places on the ship he could check; he could check medical, he could go to the gym, or he could even try the mess hall.
None of that mattered, because now he had proof. Christine had lied to him. This meant in all probability she had been lying about the charts too.
He threw the flowers to the ground angrily.
Why?
Why was she lying to him?
After a moment, he squashed that reasoning. It didn’t matter why, what mattered was that she was doing it at all. He loved her, and she was lying to him.
What else was she lying to him about? What other secrets was she keeping?
Hikaru’s stomach tied itself up in knots. The worst part was that she knew how he felt about being lied to, about being deceived. He had explained it in depth after his falling out with Pavel.
And yet, she did it in spite of knowing this.
How could he trust her anymore?
He rubbed his hand down his face.
Hell, how could he even face her? How could even talk to her? He had to, he had to at least confront her, but he was so angry it was making him sick.
As he backed out of her room, he shut and relocked the door. He needed to do something, he was so angry he couldn’t see straight. He considered going to the gym and boxing.
Actually...that wasn’t a bad idea.
For the third time in as many minutes, he got on the turbo lift and went up to the deck that housed the gym. He didn’t care that he was in jeans and a sweater, he just needed to hit something. He walked right over to the punching bag, and without stretching or warming up, he began to wail on it.
The more he thought about it, the angrier and angrier he became. Little things began to come back to him, times when she begged off being with him. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was usually when they were on a planet. It sometimes happened for days at a time. Until now, he assumed that she just liked her space and so he gave it to her.
He kept hitting the bag, his hands starting to hurt a bit from the blows.
He was a fool. He was a complete and utter fool.
The only explanation he could come up with was that she was seeing someone else behind his back. The thought of being cheated on made him feel even worse and his hits became harder.
He kept punching and punching until his shirt was soaked with sweat and his hands were completely numb. His breathing was heavy and rapid.
His girlfriend was lying to him. Had probably always been lying to him.
Now the only question was...what could he do about it?
Marla finished pulling up the file on her PADD.
“There it is,” she said and she held the PADD up for Julien to see. “I had to go in through a back door using phaser repair requests, but I did it.”
“This is very impressive,” he said as he read over the information. “You are certain you won’t get caught?”
She shook her head a few times. “No, had I done something more obvious like gone straight into security they’d have picked up on it. This way, you’ve got about thirty-six hours before they notice. That’s plenty of time.”
“Indeed,” he agreed with a note of awe in his voice. “I hate to ask, but I require another favor.”
“You need me to get the word out for you,” she said with a smile.
“Just one message, he will do the rest.” Folding his hands in front of him, he bowed a little. “I promise I will give you anything in return.”
“Anything?” She smiled at him, and it was coy.
“Anything. I am nothing if not a man of my word.”
Marla seemed to consider what he was saying for a moment. “It’s true, you’ve been nothing but honorable. It’s a rare thing to see, after dealing with these people.”
“I can imagine,” he said with a nod. “Here, before the guards come. I will give you the address and you can hide to deliver the message.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Marla said with a grin.
Chapter 3A | Chapter 4A
