Hilary Becker shook his head in frustration as he looked across the table at his former mentor.
"You wouldn't think it'd be that hard to find an engagement ring."
"Still going on then about not wanting to buy gems paid for in blood?"
"Don't go giving me that, Kellan. You know how ugly the slave labor trade is in foreign mines as well as any other man who's served. I did two tours in the provinces where major mining operations were run. I just can't bring myself to buy something that's been paid for with another man's life."
Father Ferrick smiled back widely, late day sun slanting to make the grey strands in his dark curly hair all the more pronounced.
"If you'll forgive an old man for being forward, I think I might be able to help you out."
Father Ferrick's hand disappeared beneath the table and he shifted position in his seat. When his hand reappeared it was holding a black velvet box. He set the box down gently on the table in front of Becker.
"Well, go on, open it," Kellan urged.
Becker mutely reached forward with one slender finger to pop the catch on the box open. Gently he lifted the lid. For a few moments he could do nothing more than stare at the ring inside. Eventually he closed the box again and pushed it back across the table.
"I can't -" he began to say.
Father Ferrick raised a hand, forstalling any futher protest.
"I'd be honoured, assuming you think your girl would like it. It belonged to my grandmother. My brother's children are grown and married already. And it's not as if I'm ever going to have a child of my body," he said with a self-deprecating gesture toward his collar.
Surprised, Becker looked up at the other man, his eyes revealing far more than he'd intended of his emotions. Father Ferrick looked back down at the ring box on the table top. The man who sat before him had changed over the years, but somewhere deep inside was still a small gawky boy looking to gain love and approval. He'd never dare to say as much to the young captain, but in rare unguarded moments like these, a small piece of that lonely little boy could still be seen. Kellan wondered whether Hilary's young lady had ever seen this piece of him. He wondered if she knew how fragile the man was beneath his stoic masks.
~~oOOo~~
It was late and quiet at the ARC, the day and night shifts having traded posts hours ago. As he'd expected, Lester found Captain Becker in his office filling out reports on their most recent anomaly missions. The anomalies had become more frequent of late and sometimes the paperwork piled up when missions ran heads to tails on top of each other. Not wanting to startle the other man, Lester rapped quietly on the door frame with his knuckles.
"Do you have a moment, Captain?"
"Certainly, come in, sir," Becker said, running a hand absentmindedly through his hair as he put his reports aside.
"I got a call from Home Office a couple days ago asking about a letter put into one of the diplomatic pouches. They said it had your authorisation code on it. I told them to send it through," Lester arched one finely groomed eyebrow at the captain, who was now carefully avoiding his gaze. "I assume you must have pressing business to use diplomatic channels for sending a postal to Japan."
"I'm sorry, sir. It won't-"
Lester held up a hand, bringing Becker up short in his stumble for an explanation.
"I'm not an idiot, captain. I've read each and every staff member's personnel files, same as you. I'm quite well aware that Miss Parker's mum works for the British Consulate offices in Tokyo."
Becker waited silently and after a moment Lester let his stiff posture ease a bit with a sigh.
"It's not technically a violation of military protocol, given she's a civilian and you're neither of you directly within each other's line of command. But I suspect you'd already thought of that, hadn't you? We'll simply have to come to an understanding regarding your involvement in missions wherein your spheres of authority overlap. Phillip has actually been pushing for a bit of organizational restructuring for quite some time now. I'm sure that in doing so, we could manage to make certain that you and Miss Parker are no longer working directly on the same anomaly events."
"Sir?" Becker asked, still not entirely certain he was reading the other man's intentions correctly.
"Congratulations, captain," Lester said. "Jess is a fine girl and I'm certain the two of you will be very happy together."
"Thank you, sir," Becker replied warily.
"Right then," Lester said as he stood up briskly from his chair, "if we're both clear on the matter, I'll leave you to finish up those reports."
He stopped turning back for a moment in the doorway.
"I'm certain you have better places to be now, Captain Becker," he added softly.
~~oOOo~~
Six thousand miles away in a the offices of the British Consulate in Japan, a small handful of documents and mail were places on the desk of Charlotte Parker. Returning from a lunchtime walk, she sifted through them, quickly plucking out the unexpected letter with Ministry of Defense markings on it.
~~oOOo~~
"We all want to fall in love. Why? Because that experience makes us feel completely alive. Where every sense is heightened, every emotion is magnified, our everyday reality is shattered and we are flying into the heavens. It may only last a moment, an hour, an afternoon. But that doesn't diminish its value. Because we are left with memories that we treasure for the rest of our lives." - Niall O'Donaill