Chapter 8 - Strange Encounters
Hank Evans had always refused to allow the Universe to treat him like a small, insignificant man. He'd done all he could to force it to work according to his rules. But he had begun to realize recently there were indeed limitations he had to accept, no matter how much he wished it wasn't the case. It was one of those limitations that now required him to go through the pain of seeing Kadan Loftus again.
He stopped at the door to her quarters. A quick glance up and down the corridor confirmed no one else was nearby.
Good. The last thing he wanted was an audience.
He pressed the control.
The ten seconds it took for a response were nearly unbearable for him.
The door opened. After a momentary flash of what seemed to be joy, Loftus appeared anything but happy.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"How are you doing?" Hank asked with a smile.
"Better, now that you're out of my life." She took a breath. "It's late. What do you want?"
He held up a PADD. "I need to ask you a favor."
"Personal or professional?"
"What?" He was surprised by the question. "Personal."
"It figures." She shook her head. "Goodnight."
Hank put his hand in the doorway before the doors could close. "Now wait..."
Her eyes became cold steel. "Get your hand away from the door."
"I just need to talk to you for a couple of minutes."
"Take your hand away or I'll call security."
His brow tightened. "I am security."
Undeterred, Loftus got into his face. "Then I'll get a knife and cut your hand off. And if that doesn't work, I'll try another body part."
"Damn it! Is a favor too much to ask?"
"From you, yes."
"You know, I didn't have to bring that medicine back for you!" The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them.
"Is that what that was about? You got me the medicine just so you could ask something of me later?!"
This wasn't going at all like he had hoped. "No, that's not what I..." He fought down his frustration. "Look, I just need you to get a message to someone named Daphne in case I..."
"Go to hell, Evans." She shoved his hand away.
"After what we meant to each other, can't we just talk a minute?"
"It's because of what we meant to each other that I can't stand to be near you any longer." She stepped back, waiting for the door to close. "You're a despicable person, Hank. And I hate myself for loving you like I do. But I know better than to indulge that love. All it does is allow you to keep living the lie you've lived for so very long."
"And what lie is that?"
"That you've got sound reasons for doing what you do." Her eyes were no longer cold, just lifeless now. "Those reasons are just the excuses you make for being immoral, deceitful, and destructive. The truth is you like being that way. It makes you feel alive."
"Is there anything wrong with feeling alive?"
"There is when you leave a wake of destruction everywhere you go." She walked back into her quarters and the door closed.
Hank reached for the door chime control again, but stopped before hitting it. He doubted she'd open it again. All he had to do was leave her the PADD.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small chip he'd tried to give Jack several days before. He liked how carrying it calmed his mind.
All he had to do was activate it and he'd be in her room. Once he was on the other side of the door...
My god, he thought. What the hell am I doing here? He shrugged his shoulders and put the dimensional displacement device back in his pocket. He'd have to find another way to solve the problem he'd wanted Loftus's help with.
***
"Not that I believed him, but Kyle tried to suggest the two of you had been involved," Natalie said as she worked on opening a new bottle of wine.
"Involved?" Mei-Wan tossed her head back against the soft edge of the couch she sat in. "We weren't."
"I figured as much," Natalie said with a grin. She drove the corkscrew into the neck of the bottle.
"To be fair, there was a moment when... well, let's just say I almost did something I would have regretted."
Natalie finally pulled the cork free. She handed Mei-Wan a glass. "His loss."
Mei-Wan watched as Natalie poured the wine. "I doubt he sees it that way."
"You getting down on yourself again?"
"No, I just don't see myself as all that sexually daring." She took a cautious sip of the red wine. "This is nice. It's got a taste that reminds me of strawberries. Is it from Sicily too?"
"No, this one's from Spain." Natalie sat on the other end of the couch, taking a drink from her own glass. "That surprises me. With your natural curiosity I would have imagined you'd be really adventurous in bed." She cast a smile toward Mei-Wan. "The thing I've always loved about the scientific method is how it encourages us to experiment."
Mei-Wan chuckled. "I guess I've not been a very good scientist in that regard."
Natalie studied her for several moments. "I'm not trying to be critical or anything, I'm just curious..."
"Curiosity again?" Mei-Wan asked with a bright smile.
"Occupational hazard."
"Go ahead," Mei-Wan relented.
"Well, is it you just don't like sex or..."
"No." Mei-Wan stared at her glass. "I like it a lot."
Natalie nodded with a smile. "Then what?"
Mei-Wan watched the wine lap up against the sides of the glass as she twirled it gently. "I guess I was so busy being an archaeologist that I haven't taken much time for other pleasures."
Natalie frowned. "You mean you were too busy living up to other people's expectations to let yourself enjoy the possibilities life had to offer."
That hit too close to home for Mei-Wan.
"I'm sorry, that wasn't fair," Natalie said. "I've got no right to judge you or your life."
"No, you're right." Mei-Wan said, looking away. "I have lived too much of my life based on what I thought everyone expected. My parents, my professors, Kyle, even Jack."
"Were you a virgin when you married him?"
"No, but... when our relationship started, yes." Mei-Wan exhaled slowly. "I don't think there's anything wrong with that."
"No there isn't," Natalie replied. "As long as that's what you chose to do. If it was because of what others wanted you to be, then yes there is a problem with it."
"I really don't know if that was so much it, or if it was just..."
"What is it, Mei?"
Mei-Wan shook her head and took another sip of wine.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have intruded into your personal life like that." Natalie started to get up from the couch.
Mei-Wan grabbed her arm. "No, I... I'm glad we're talking about all of this."
Natalie sat back down slowly. "I've always considered you a friend, Mei, even when I was a bright-eyed, worshiping ensign."
Mei-Wan smiled at her. "You were something."
"You probably thought I was obnoxious," Natalie said.
"No, I never thought that."
They each took a long drink. Mei-Wan stared at her glass for nearly a minute as they both sat in silence. When she glanced back at Natalie, the younger woman leaned over to her.
Natalie Fowler hesitated a moment, with an expectant smile on her face. The next moment, their lips touched.
Before Mei-Wan could move away, she got caught up in the sensation of Natalie's silky lips pressed gently against her own. She felt a pleasant warmth in her face.
A second later, Natalie leaned away. An impish grin waited for some reaction from Mei-Wan.
"I'm sorry," Natalie finally said. "I hope you aren't angry."
Mei-Wan took several long breaths. "No, I'm not angry. Just surprised."
Natalie looked at her with an innocence which defied what had just transpired. "I've always been attracted to you, but..."
"But you were involved with Kyle."
"It was more than that."
Mei-Wan was uncomfortable with all of this. "Okay, but... which do you prefer, men or women?"
Natalie set her wine glass down on a nearby table. "I've never considered it an either-or sort of choice. I don't let labels determine who I am or who I allow myself to be with."
Mei-Wan nodded slowly. "When you have sex with a man do you think of yourself as hetero?"
Fowler shook her head. "I'm just Natalie." She kept her distance from Mei-Wan, but her fidgeting suggested she'd have preferred to be closer. "I get involved with people I like. The configuration of their genitals is secondary."
Mei-Wan's brow raised. "Have you been with many women?"
"Not as many as men, but a good number." Natalie watched Mei-Wan closely, seeming to look for some indicator of where the evening would go next. "With some species, it's not as clear cut as male and female."
Despite never having thought about being with anyone but a man before, Natalie's kiss didn't upset Mei-Wan as she would have assumed it might.
"So, did you enjoy it?"
Mei-Wan found it hard to make eye contact with Natalie, but just as hard not to smile. "Yes," she said with a breathy reply. "But it was different."
"Men's lips are rough, which can be nice sometimes, but a woman's lips are always soft." Natalie caught herself. "Well, almost always."
Mei-Wan didn't want to hurt Natalie's feelings, but she had to say something.
Natalie chuckled. "It's okay, Mei. You don't have to explain. I'm sorry to put you on the spot like that." She leaned back against the armrest of the couch. "I probably should have asked first."
Something about Natalie's kiss reminded Mei-Wan of someone.
"When I was on the Iconia expedition, there was a boy..." Mei-Wan stopped to correct herself. "More than a boy actually. He was a fourth year cadet. We were sitting on an outcropping of rock, looking across this huge rocky valley. We'd sat there for hours talking about his plans for his career and my hopes and dreams. Blake Emerson was his name."
Natalie grinned. "How old were you?"
"I'd just turned seventeen. I'd been taking Academy courses several years prior to that." It all seemed an eternity ago to her now. "Anyway, we'd been sitting there for a long time and just as the sun was setting, he leaned over and kissed me." Mei-Wan stopped, lost in her memories again. "I've never told anyone about that before. Not even Jack."
"Well, I was beginning to wonder if the captain was the first guy you had kissed too."
"I might have been a virgin when I met Jack, but I had kissed guys before and... and other things."
"Did you and Blake have a long relationship?"
"The expedition ended a few days later."
"Did you ever try to see him after you graduated from the Academy?"
Mei-Wan's smile faded. "Immediately after the expedition he was assigned to the Melbourne." Mei-Wan could tell Natalie understood what that meant. It was one of the ships lost to the Borg at Wolf 359.
"I'm sorry."
"He was a wonderful guy," Mei-Wan said. "He kissed me the same way you did--- no warning. He just did it. I've always admired him for that."
"And me?"
Mei-Wan finished off the wine in her glass. "It's kind of hard to be mad at you for doing the same thing he did."
"Do you feel attracted to me at all?" Natalie asked.
Mei-Wan put her hand on Natalie's. "It's not you. I've never felt sexually attracted to any woman."
"But you were curious?"
Mei-Wan hesitated a moment. "Maybe a little."
"If I at least spurred your curiosity, then I can deal with the lack of fulfillment."
Setting her glass down, Mei-Wan rose from the couch. "It's getting late. Maybe I should go."
"You sure you don't want to stay and do some more exploring?" Natalie asked with a pleading look.
"I think my experimentation in this area will be restricted to the male gender for the foreseeable future," Mei-Wan said with a grin as she walked to the door.
Natalie cast a seductive glance at Mei-Wan. "We could have had a lot of fun."
***
Ten minutes later, Mei-Wan made her way back to her own quarters. Once inside, she found it difficult to remain upright.
Way too much wine, she told herself as she fell into a chair.
She exhaled and closed her eyes. Her mind began to drift back to the memories of Todd she'd experienced earlier in the day, and to the kiss between herself and Natalie Fowler.
"No, I'm not going to dwell on it," she whispered to herself. "Or analyze it."
It happened. For once in her life she was going to leave it at that.
She needed something to distract her. "Computer, music."
"Style or selection?" the computer asked.
She thought a moment. "Anything by Lucky Seven." She had become enamored with the music of the baritone voiced singer while on Earth the last two months. Something about it reminded her of the time she'd spent in the twenty-first century, but she wasn't sure why.
Over the speakers in her room, a deep, soothing voice accompanied by guitar sang, "Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go. You have made my life complete, and I love you so."
"No! Stop!" That was the last thing she needed to get her mind off this day. "Something without the word 'love' in it."
The song stopped and was replaced after a moment by, "A little less conversation, a little more action please. All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me…"
That was better. A nice heavy beat and nothing to remind her of…
"... Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me. Satisfy me baby."
"That's worse than the last one!" She rolled her eyes. "I give up. Computer, turn it off."
Silence once again.
But only for about two seconds.
The door chime sounded.
"Ugh!" It took all her determination not to hunt down the nearest phaser and vaporize whoever was on the other side of that door. "This better be important."
Mei-Wan staggered to the door and touched the control. The door slid open and on the other side stood the handsome, blond haired Timothy Blackwell, wearing a dark blue casual suit.
"Hey, Mei, I hope I didn't wake you."
"No, I was up."
"Still working at this hour?" he asked.
"Actually, I spent most of the evening talking with Natalie." Mei-Wan could see from the way he was fidgeting he was apprehensive about something.
"Uh, I was wondering..." He took a long breath before continuing. "Would you like to maybe go unwind and have a drink with me down in the lounge on Deck Nine?"
Mei-Wan hated to tell him "no" because he'd always been so nice to her and she could tell this meant a lot to him. But after what had happened with Natalie, she really wasn't much in the mood to play romance games with anyone.
"Tim, I appreciate the offer, but this has been a strange night for me already. I doubt I'd be very good company."
His hopeful expression faded, now all that was left was for him to make the less than graceful retreat Mei-Wan had come to expect from men when they felt rejected.
"Well, maybe another time," he mumbled as he turned to go.
"Tim..."
"Yeah," he said, swiveling his head back to her.
"How about after I get back from this mission?"
"Sure," he said, still with a dour look on his face.
"No, I mean it. Before I transfer to my next assignment, let's have dinner."
"You really mean it?" a smile began to blossom at the hope she was giving him.
"Of course I do," she said, taking a step toward him. "We haven't had much chance to talk since I got back from Nybiros. You can fill me in on everything that's been happening in the science department."
"Sure," he said, his smile widening.
"And I'd like to hear what's going on in your life too."
"Okay. Goodnight, Mei."
"Night."
The door closed. "He's nice," she told herself as she headed toward the bedroom. "A real date might do me some good."
