Lets Just Talk (3/3)

Posted on 22 Mar 2016 @ 11:13am by Lieutenant Wilhelm Von Haeften & Petty Officer 1st Class Rebecca Williams

3,426 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: Jupiter Station - Q Continuum
Timeline: MD94 2035hours

Previously.....

“You haven’t been given the easiest of boots to fill. Your position seems to come with a…” Rebecca hesitated for a moment as she wondered if her words would drop the tone of their evening too much. “...curse. The old girl has been through a new chief science officers in recent times but your predecessor was a good luck story. Started out as a nurse in sickbay, raised to chief medical officer, cross transferred to chief of research, and from there the rest you know.”

“I do the best I can, that’s all.” Wil said.

“Can I ask you something serious?” the German asked.


And now....


Rebecca had made a move towards her food, selecting the right cutlery from the immense collection either side of her but at Wil’s question she looked up as she heard a hint of something that concerned her in his voice. “Of course you can. You don't ever need to ask.”

“I know you have had doubts before, and you know that I want you to be happy. You also know how you make me feel. I just want to know: is this what you want? Do you want to be with me? For there to be an us?” the CSO inquired.

Rebecca hesitated for a moment before placing her knife and fork back down. She wondered if despite the woman having asked him not to, Noah had actually approached Wil after all. It was only days ago that the same question had been asked but by her friend instead. Perhaps that was what her saving grace here would be.

Holding her hand out to his, she waited until he placed his palm against hers before finally answering. “If you'd have asked me days ago I think you know what your answer would have been. A very definite no. This wasn't what I wanted...I didn't want to fall in love with a man...with you. I didn't want to develop a dependency, a relationship, on another. I was happy when my only concerns were me as a person and nobody else. I was happy with the sexual pleasure a fling would bring as I didn't want anything else.”

Wil nodded his head to show he understood what she was saying.

Rebecca squeezed Wil’s hand gently as she gave him an honest answer. “Even when things took off between us at warp speed, I kept fighting against this...against us because my feelings for you, falling in love with you, was all so foreign. I gave myself a busted knuckle for that very reason...the belief that this and you were all wrong. From the moment we met, I consciously took for granted that you were different to the rest...that we were destined to be different from the rest. But I think subconsciously I've always known and never wanted to admit it.”

Von Haeften squeezed Rebecca’s hand back with warmth and affection.

Rebecca paused for a moment more as she tried to gather her thoughts, a matter made that little bit easier because Noah had already asked the question of her; planting that tiny seed in her mind that she needed to step back and look at herself in all of this. “I said it earlier in fewer words, I've never had that dream that every little girl has, of the white dress, the horse and carriage and the church full of loved ones...it's an image that scares me if I'm to be honest, especially as I know that that dream is you. To find the woman, make her your wife and mother of your children. Your a romantic who plans for the future as much as you can. And I know that is what you deserve. But if you'd asked me, before I met you, did I ever see myself in a relationship; I'd have laughed and asked what drugs they'd recently taken as the idea alone was preposterous. But yet...here I am now...sitting with you, holding hands, laughing, and more in love than I could have have imagined being. Little by little each day I feel my old self unravel and a willingness to give you that little bit more. I won't lie...I’ve no delusions that this will be easy. I've no delusions that there will be more arguments...more doubts...more uncertainties but I know one thing for certain. I want you. I don't see my life anymore without you in it.”

Wil couldn’t help but smile. If Rebecca were Betazoid, she would feel a flood of emotions emanate from his mind. One thing about Rebecca that he loved was that she was forthright and honest with him; Wilhelm did not have to often guess as to what she was feeling or what she wanted. As for what Wil wanted....

Wilhelm kissed Rebecca’s hand, in lieu of planting a scandalous kiss on her lips. He would have preferred the second option, but decorum would’ve been violated in this place.

Wilhelm released her hand, more out of necessity than because he wanted to; it would have been hard to cut and eat his food otherwise.

“So tell me, how’s that new language you’re learning coming? Which one was it?” the German asked.

She couldn't deny it, she wanted nothing more than for Wil to kiss her right now...damn the fellow restaurateurs and damn proper restaurant etiquette...she just wanted a kiss.

Closing her eyes for a brief moment, the woman forced herself to breath and to remember all that childhood training. She may have rebelled at the time but it was proving useful now...how to be a prim and proper girl...surely she could pull it off for the time they'd left to finish eating.

“Ferengi? It's going as well as ferengi can. It's kinda difficult to get a hang on as their alphabet has sixty characters in comparison to the standard English alphabet of twenty six characters. Their written language also can be difficult to follow..” Rebecca smiled as she watched Wil follow, wondering if he genuinely found this interesting.

“[Yes...hard.]” Wil said in some of his limited Ferengi.

Rebecca couldn't hide her surprise. Sure he could use some work on his pronunciation but for someone to whom languages wasn't his profession or hobby, it wasn't a bad attempt at all. “I keep forgetting that at one point in your life you were an Admiral’s attaché, basic words and phrases of different cultures were probably a requirement?”

Wil laughed. “Actually not really. “All I picked up was through basic study thanks to my mother. She was a language specialist in the service and when she left it with my father, she took a job as a language professor at Oxford. She had hoped I would find some enjoyment out of languages as well, but I have nowhere near her mastery. I guess it was a way we could bond as mother and son, learning those languages together.”

“What is your mother's name? I might know her in the communications circles? Now days with the evolution of automatic translation in comm badges and personal hand held devices, it seems that people’s love of languages is devolving in front of our eyes. It's a shame…” Rebecca replied.

“She hasn’t been in the Starfleet circles since the late 2360s.” Wil said...

And so the night went, the bits of conversation that Wil and Rebecca enjoyed running the gamut from the mundane to the absurd to the silly…

::::::

“...so I told the guy ‘No, that’s not my chin, that’s my tricorder!” Wil said, finishing the joke.

Rebecca laughed and it was completely a genuine laugh but you could hear the groan behind it. What made the joke so funny was that it was so deplorably bad you couldn't do anything but laugh. “Meine liebe...perhaps stick to the day job?” Her words teased as her eyes sparkled with love and happiness.

Wil harrumphed at her tease. “Decorum or no, I’ll put you over my knee right here in front of everyone.”

Rebecca laugh echoed around the room this time, not that it was loud but that it was infectious. Her eyes twinkled brighter as her hand moved to tap the back of his, “My dear...don’t make promises you won't keep.”

Another harrumph from Wil.

::::::

“What do you mean?” Wil asked excitedly “Voltaire clearly indicated that humanity has a basic goodness that is often consumed by wanton desires and selfishness, but at the core we all have a basic moral compass.”

“Perhaps but that image is also at a complete contrast to the other aspects of his works which focused on attacks upon the Catholic Church for what he perceived to be a restriction that they placed on people regarding the free choice people should have had to choose their own religion, to have a freedom of expression; and the pinnacle point of the time, he feels the the church and state were too intricately involved.” Rebecca leaned forward as she folded her arms against the edge of the table, so involved in the discussion that proper manners went out the door. “Friedrich Schiller got it right when he said the greater part of humanity is too much harassed and fatigued by the struggled for want, to rally itself for a new and sterner struggle with error.”

Wilhelm loved it when they had debates like this.

“Shut up and make love to me on this table.” he said, half-serious.

Rebecca understood the frustration, it was beginning to seem that the undeniable sexual tension between them was forgone. Despite this though, she was immensely enjoying the night. Although they'd talked and shared their lives before, there was always interruptions in the means of people, positions or even self inflicted as one touch lead to another. Tonight was different, they'd forced themselves into a social situation were they were forced to behave...but surely a little talk wouldn't do any harm. “I'd dare you to follow through on that promise but I'm not certain I want to spent the night in the brig in indecent exposure charges, Holiday might actually kill me.”

“No magistrate upon seeing you in that dress would dare convict me. If anything, I’d garner sympathy.” Wil said.

:::::::

“I still don't understand it. What could possibly be wrong with B B King, Ella Fitzgerald, even Billie Holiday. With the blues genre it's all about the voice, the instruments are only there for enhancement.” Pausing for a moment, Rebecca took a sip of her wine as she tried to compose her words. “With blues you cover every range of emotion; from the sweet, slow and soul wrenching; right up to the upbeat that makes you want to tap your foot, shake your hips and move to the beat. There's nothing better than the blues that originate from the depths of New Orleans...until you've heard a live singer on the stage of the home of blues...you just haven't lived!”

“I never said anything was wrong with blues...I just like Jazz. I find the ability to garner emotions and images without using words fascinating.” the German stated.

As she went to answer, Rebecca found her attention drawn away from Wil as a band begun to play in the corner. Whereas the music before was nearly non existence, purposely kept low to allow easy conversation amongst the diners, this was different.

As the sounds of piano keys being struck echoed around the room, slowly a violin moved to take center stage, the notes as soft as the bow that was drawn so gently across the strings. The beat was somewhat quick but it encouraged a gentle flow as the notes crossed each other back and forth, the violin and piano each fighting for a dominance made all the more powerful by the uni-sense they managed together. The music gently encouraged people to take the floor but allowed them a pace which suited the most inexperienced of dancers.

As she watched, an older man within her eyesight smiled as he moved his chair back; a confidence and grace in his body language could have only be perfected by age. Rebecca turned her body slightly to see what would happen, she saw the man bow gracefully at the waist before extending his hand to his female companion. She didn't need to be close to the people to hear the slight tinkle of laughter in the air before a delicate hand touched his.

Lost in the moment of just watching the couple, Wil’s lover continued to watch as the lady was led to the floor. They were the only couple on the dance floor but it was clear to everyone who watched that it didn't matter to either, so lost where they in the other. He lead his partner so easily, needing to tilt his head down the smallest bit to hear the words that caused him to laugh in reaction.

It was a sight Rebecca wasn't used to seeing...her own parents would never create such a scene in public, only dancing together when it was demanded of them and even then they kept a distance of half an arm length between their bodies; anything less was seen as scandalous in proper company.

If she was honest with herself...the woman would admit that she'd never paid such close attention to other couples before. She had sight for only single men and even then for just a sole purpose. Rebecca had never paid attention before to the dance between two true loves...were nothing else mattered but the company of the other and as long as they both had that...nothing else in life mattered.

Wil noticed her attention towards the music. “Shall we Suesse?” the German asked, standing up and holding his hand towards her.

As she heard the softened words Wil spoke, Rebecca tore her attention away from the older couple, pausing for a moment before placing her fingers in his outstretched hand. A smile highlighted the faraway look in her eyes, a look that was quickly disappearing as she focused her attention back solely on her own companion and how much he meant to her. “I would like that...very much.”

Wilhelm took her by the hand towards the dance floor. He knew the rhythm and pace of this song, although it had been some years since he had done a waltz. He tried to remember the steps as they began to twirl and turn in tune with the music. Wil was sure there was some prescribed movement queue they would perform, but since he did not know it, he decided to freeform the whole thing. His left hand took Rebecca’s right, his other hand going to her waist. Despite himself and his promise to behave, he gave her hip a firm squeeze. Rebecca’s breath came out in a gasp at the firmness of his touch.

“Sorry.” He said. If he was truthful with himself, he wasn’t one bit sorry; he enjoyed touching Rebecca. His hands just felt so right when they made contact with her skin. He was sorry if he startled her with his rather possessive grip he took on her hip. When she did not immediately slap him across the face, Wil kept his hand and grip there.

Rebecca couldn't help the smile on her lips as she laughed just a little. His touch was a reminder that beyond the evening of romance they had so much more together. As his free hand interlaced their fingers, the woman focused on just him...focused on just them.

The couple started to turn right, making concentric circles as they moved about the dance floor. Although Wil wanted nothing more than to have their bodies as close as possible, he kept a respective distance between them, to both ensure they didn’t create a scandal, as well as to ensure that he didn’t step on her feet by accident if he forgot a step.

Rebecca detected the ever so subtle hesitation in Wil’s lead, the tiny indication that perhaps he wasn't so sure footed as those looking on might be lead to believe. Tilting her head down a little, the woman tried to hide the smile that spread even further across her lips. “Would you prefer if I took the lead?”

“I’ve got it love, just been a while since I waltzed; it’ll come back to me...it’s like making love to a bicycle, right?” he joked.

Rebecca laughed as she tilted her head just a slight bit in order to look into his eyes, her heels bringing her to near his height, “Do I even want to ask the story behind that?”

“Better you don’t.” the CSO said with mock worry.
As the young lovers continued their maneuvers, Wil’s confidence grew with each step. Joke or no, he was right: the movements did start to come back to him as he closed the distance between them as they danced.

Eventually, the couple were standing perilously close to each other, their eyes locked onto each other. With so few people on the dance floor, Wil could afford to dance with more abandon than usual. Rebecca’s chest was pushed tightly against Wil’s, and if he was truthful, the feeling of her curves against him made his thoughts go to places that even Vulcan Love Slave would have found quite raunchy. He willed himself to think of something else, lest Rebecca feel him ‘push’ against her, so to speak.

Their twirls continued, faster and faster, until the music reached it's crescendo and Wil released one hand, to have Rebecca twirl in place before pulling her back to him and dipping her down. The mood overcoming him, the German officer bent down to place a kiss on Rebecca’s lips.

Rebecca had been lost in both Wil and the music as her feet quickly adjusted to his steps, barely feeling the press of their bodies as all that matter was she was here with him. She'd been right earlier...never in a gazillion years would she have ever believed the idea of romance and love and finding the one whom you choose to settle down with. Life was lived to be frivolous...to shy away from the life you'd been built to live. But this...this quirky, funny, intelligent, fun, loving man had changed everything. He'd gotten beneath her skin in more ways than one; embedding himself in her every waking thought, her every sleeping dream. She was scared...scared as hell of what the future held but she was willing to give it a try...just for Wilhelm.

As her back dropped out from under her, his arm around the woman's waist her only support, Rebecca kept their eye contact the whole time as her lips played across his in a kiss before whispering so softly, “Du bist mein eins und allein*.”

Wil smiled at his love. “Du habst meine Herz Liebchen**.” he replied sweetly. After helping her back up, Wil looked at Rebecca longingly.

“How about we retire for the evening darling?” he asked.

As she regained her balance, Rebecca was taken back to their first date...was that even the right word for it? First meeting might have suited better. The time then they had danced...all eyes had watched the two people become intimate through a simple dancing motion, their skin had burned and their bodies had lusted for more. But this dance had been so different...they'd laughed at their clumsy steps and smiled as they'd watched the other. Eyes had followed them as Rebecca had watched the older couple, but this time was so different. The eyes that followed echoed the soft smile...two young lovers enjoying life and most of all enjoying themselves.

“Hummmm. I was going to suggest my place or yours but I don't think you'd fancy mine.” Rebecca laughed as she squeezed Wil’s hand gently.

“I’ll get our coats babe.”

[OFF]

*You are my one and only
**You have my heart beloved

A jp BY:

Lieutenant JG Wilhelm Von Haeften
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

&

Petty Officer 2nd Class Rebecca Williams
Yeoman to Captain Jonathan Holiday
USS Galileo
[pNPC Drusilla McCarthy]

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