Après Le Dîner

Posted on Sun Feb 9th, 2025 @ 10:29pm by Captain Mira Rodale & Commander Kevin Lance

Mission: The days of our lives
Location: USS Akira
Timeline: Current

On:

{Botanical Gardens, USS Akira}


Mira and Kevin were silent as they walked through the variety of exotic flora planted in the gardens.
Mira was finally able to breathe now that the dinner was done and, by tomorrow, they would be free. She just wanted to enjoy the rest of the evening so she slipped her arm around his as they walked.
Occasionally, Kevin would point out a specimen as pretty or unique but it was clear that he wasn’t really interested in the plants. His arm was tense as they walked and something was weighing on him.

“What troubles you, my love?” Mira asked with genuine concern.

There was a pause, then Kevin replied. “This evening has not gone the way I had planned.”

Planned? “How so?” she urged.

“I don’t like Captain Taylor and the sooner we are off his ship the better,” he answered, “If the life support systems aboard Norris weren’t compromised, I would suggest returning to our own quarters but..." he shrugged.

“Why don’t you like Taylor?” Mira continued. She had her reasons for disliking being around him, but she wondered what he had done to Kevin.

“The way he looked at you, talked to you, implied some deeper connection,” Kevin’s face looked like he had bitten into something sour, “It was all so annoying.”

Mira nodded. it had been odd to her as well, but she could count the number of men she had dated on one hand and still have many fingers left. She reflected that Chris’ fawning over her during dinner had been uncomfortable. Perhaps that was why Kolar had punched him in the eye?

She hadn’t thought much of the other Captain either. If Kevin and Montgomery hadn’t have come, well the captain would have, more then likely, gotten another black eye. The XO seemed nice enough. A little nosey, but that was a Betazoid thing.

She stopped walking and smiled up at him. Her arms reaching up to slip around his neck. “I didn’t like his attentions. I dressed tonight for you and only you. I can totally understand that, if the problem was reverse, I would not have been happy with a women wanting you. But did I give you any reason to think I was interested in anyone but you? Or that I wouldn’t be going home with you? Or that I was interested in Taylor at all?” She cocked her head to the side waiting for his answer.

For a moment, Kevin thought that he might have offended Mira but the look in her eyes and the way her body pressed against his suggested otherwise. "No," he said, clasping his hands behind her waist, "You haven't done anything wrong and I appreciate your desire to be pleasing to me." He leaned his head forward to kiss her on the forehead.

"I am mostly upset at the unwanted attention that others give you," he continued, "I know that you don't appreciate most of it and I am as distressed as you by them. I am not handsome enough to be an object of desire by most women, present company excepted of course, but your beauty and grace is evident to all. Jealousy is such a conflicting emotion to deal with."

Jealousy was a problem she could understand. She nodded, and it was a painful one, too. Hearing from other women that they had been with Kevin in the Matrix had just about broke her. But the things that happened in the Matrix were twisted, manipulated and so bad she had trouble dealing with it all. It was why she hung onto the times life was beautiful there. She gave a little sigh and rested her cheek on his chest.

“Is there anything I can do to help you? Short of wearing a bag over my head?” she asked sweetly then with a twinkle of mischief An idea came to her “I could have Vaytoc pee on his shoes or maybe eat one? He does love that.” She giggle then looked thoughtfully “Rings? We have been talking about getting them. They seem very important to humans that can be the first thing we do when we get to Beta Antares. What do you think?”

Kevin let out a harrumph and looked around. "I think that this isn't nearly as romantic as I hoped it would be. Let's get the children and put them to bed."

Mira hid her pout from Kevin as he took her hand and they left. She had planned on having Zimia keep the kids all night. But… ok.

{VIP Quarters, USS Akira}

Mira placed the slip dress on a hanger and put it into the wardrobe. She wanted to take a shower but wasn't certain if Kevin still intended to share a bath with her, so she was dressed in comfy sweats pants, tank top with little else underneath.

Raising her arms over her head, she stretched as the thought.

Ashla had been awake when they had collected the children from Zima and she insisted on Kevin putting her to bed. Mira smiled at the thought of how quickly he had bonded with their daughter. Kolar preferred his mother but Ashla was a daddy's girl.

Mira imagined Kevin sitting in the rocking chair he had replicated, reading or singing to Ashla as the baby was lulled into a deep slumber. Every time she saw him with the kids it just melted her heart.

She had just laid down in the large bed in the main bedroom when Kolar walked in with his teddy bear in one hand. "What's wrong, sweetie?" she asked.

"Couldn't sleep," he mumbled, "Want snuggles." His little hands raised up to her wiggling his fingers to be picked up.

Mira smiled at her son as she patted the bedside next to her and helped Kolar climb into the bed on Kevin's side and wiggled down under the covers. If Kevin wanted to get frisky, he would have to wait until Kolar fell asleep and put him back in his.

Mira considered reading a book until Ashla was asleep and got up to retrieve one from the dresser. As she returned to the bed, Kolar ask, "Mama? What's this?" He was holding a small, velvet covered box.

Mira frowned, she had never seen it before. ” I don’t know sweetheart. It must be something of daddy’s. You can ask him later.” She crawled into bed pulling the covers around them “How about the naughty little rabbit?”

Kolar giggled “Little Rabbit Foo Foo? “

Mira nodded. "Little Rabbit Foo Foo riding through the forest scooping up the field mice and boppin them on head.” she looked down as Kolar with a frown “You wouldn’t do that would you?”

Kolar shook his head no. “Mama, does he have a itchy-tail, too?” She chuckled and shook her head no. She then continued the little story as her fingers rubbed his forehead but she notice Kolar was still holding on to that box. Kevin had gotten into the habit of scanning thier quarters then they were off the ship.. He even scanned thier quarters on the ship. So it shouldn't be dangerous.

"Mana Is uncle Q an fairy too? He makes things go puff too."

Mira's eyes widened before she looked around the room. Crap was he back? "Do you see him " she whispered "Q,?" At his nod she asked "Today?"

Kolar shook his head no "Awhile ago. I am his favorite nephew but he loves Ashla too."

Some how Mira didn't feel as relaxed anymore as she had only a few minutes be hearing that. Q had a way of messing around with every thing.

Kolar was asleep when Kevin returned so he pick up his son and carried him off to his own bed. Vaytok padded after him, reasoning that he would get more sleep if it stayed with the children rather than with Mira and her mate.

Kolar was still holding the velvet covered box and Kevin took it from the little boy's fist before tucking him in under his bed covers. He opened the box to ensure that the ring was still inside and closed it again before returning to the master bedroom.

Mira sat on the bed and asked if he still wanted to bathe together.

"No," he replied, "I was thinking that we should go up to the observation a deck and look to at the stars."

Mira bit her lip. "What about the children?" she asked.

Kevin shrugged. "They should be fine. Vaytoc will watch over them and let you know if there is anything wrong. And we can secure these quarters from entry by anyone outside of our own crew." It was a security setting that he had programmed upon their arrival.

Mira nodded slowly then hopped off the bed. Slipping into running shoes and grabbed a zip up hoodie. “I would go anyplace with you.” She grinned.

Vaytoc sent an image of him stretching out next to Kolar because he knew they were going out and he would be babysitting. He also knew Zimia was right next door and Awal not far away. The kids would be safe.

The Obersvation Deck was empty this late in the ship's night, so Kevin stood with Mira in his arms, her head resting back on his chest as the two of them stared up at the stars as they streaked past.

By any measure, the evening had been disastrous.
The conversation at dinner was fraught with tension and innuendo. Captain Taylor had neatly upstaged Kevin's intentions and the Cochrane damned Betazoid was all too perceptive. Mira had drunk more than she should have but was very good at maintaining discipline for one her size. Still, it didn't make what Kevin wanted to do any easier.

"I am not who you think I am," he said without preamble.

Mira’s body tensed with worry.
"What?" Mira asked, her voice took on a confused and vulnerable quality to it.

"I am not Kevin Lance," Kevin said, "Or at least I wasn't born to that name"

Mira panicked but Kevins arms held her. “But you are the man I fell in love with? The one that has watched over me for more than two years now? The one that has saved be more times then I can even count right now and the father of both my children?” Her brain was a little befuddled from the whiskey she had drank earlier, but she needed those points cleared for her before he said anything else.

"I am that man," he said and kissed her on the neck, "but I was born someone else entirely."

“My given name was Jar Nutte,” Kevin began, still holding Mira so he wouldn’t have to look into her eyes, “I was born on a forgotten backwater rim world along the Klingon border. My mother was…employed in a rather dubious profession and I never knew who my father was. I had two sisters…half-sisters actually. I ran away when I was ten and stowed away aboard a merchant vessel, the Dorcas James. I was eventually discovered by the crew but rather than turn me over to the authorities on the next planet, Captain Jaxx apprenticed me aboard his ship.”

“I would have been happy to have remained on the Dorcas James and Jar for the rest of my life but our ship was attacked by Orion pirates,” he paused for a moment, then continued, “I was the only survivor. The Federation ship that investigated the attack mistook me for Kevin Lance, a passenger aboard the ship. Having lost my adopted family and with no desire to return to the existence that I had escaped from, I assumed the identity of Kevin.”

“The real Kevin Lance had gotten an appointment to Star Fleet Academy and was travelling with his family to the induction center when we were attacked. I was fortunate that he had already been tested and passed the academic portions of selection. I wouldn’t have passed the written examinations. Although I received a great deal of personal instruction from the crew of the Dorcas James, Star Fleet was the first formal school that I ever attended. The rest is in my official record.”

Mira relaxed in his arms. OK, that was a very sad life he escaped from. She could live with all that. “You are still the man you would have been. You only took an opportunity to improve yourself.”

She ran away from a life she hadn’t wanted to make a life she did want. There was no difference, except she had kept her name. It was really the only thing she could hang onto from her past.

Kevin was relieved as he felt the tension in Mira's body ease. He had hoped that her generosity would extend to the massive deception that their relationship was based on, trusting that his consistency since becoming Kevin Lance would overcome any doubt as to his trustworthiness. He had told her his darkest secret and she hadn't rejected him. "I needed to tell you to truth so that I could do this." He pulled the velvet covered box out of his pocket and turned her around.

"Mira Angelina Rodale," he said trying to keep his emotions from overwhelming him, "you are the most magnificent woman that I have ever met. I have loved you from the moment that we met and over the last three years, my attachment to you has only grown. I can only hope that you feel the same and will consent to be formally joined with me."

He opened the box. Inside was a ring, a band of intertwined silver and gold metal with a large diamond secured by four delicate prongs.

Mira’s smile was warm and inviting. “Yes. I can’t even imagine my life now with out you with me.” She reached up to touch his face.

:off

Commander Kevin Lance
Executive Officer
USS Chuck Norris

and

Captain Mira Rodale
CO USS Chuck Norris