Title: A Touching Gesture.
Author: Nyt Yanse.
Fandom: Babylon 5.
Characters: OFC, Zack Allan, David Corwin, Michael Garibaldi.
Story Type: Romance Humour Friendship.
Rating: PG.
Disclaimer: I don't own it. I don't get money from it. Sue me and I'll laugh. And hide.
Warnings: Near-Total AU. Snogging, groping and pillow talk. More cringing. Slight violence. Some fluff.
Spoilers: Set in the early months of 2258, before any of the other pieces. There aren't really any canon spoilers in this piece.
Summary: REDONE. Mild SLASH, slight comedy. David Corwin and Zack Allan have a secret. Sergeant Sheridan finds out. Fluffiness ensues.
Author's Note: I am just starting on the plot outline for the novel. This is just some silliness I had to get out of my system. Oh, and, just for the hell of it, the sexual age of consent in the Earth Alliance is 18, at least in this story, so Sheridan is technically underage. You'll see what I mean.
Again, thank you Robert1000 for your kind words about my last story. It is greatly appreciated.
***
Sergeant Zack Allan lay back in bed. He had never been more relaxed and comfortable than right now. He had been so worried about someone finding out about his secret, and here was someone who felt just like him. And who even liked him. He had never been happier.
Junior Grade Lieutenant David Corwin turned over in his sleep and snuggled up to Zack. The C+C whizz and eager-to-please innocent boy, as everyone thought of him as, wasn't quite as innocent as everyone thought. He had been in three major relationships and had gone all the way. Zack had never had anyone. He had never even felt comfortable enough to tell his family. But now he had David.
They had stayed up all night and talked. And... Well, they had done more. He couldn't believe his luck.
Suddenly, yet languidly, David moved again, raising his head to Zack's face. Kissing him gently on the lips, he grinned.
"So, how was it?"
"Amazing." Admitted Zack. "I've read about it, but I never thought I'd actually get to experience it myself. And now..."
"You're sure I didn't hurt you?" Asked David, his previously relaxed face concerned. "It's not unusual for there to be some... discomfort... the first time, as I said before, but I think I may have got a bit carried away..."
Zack shook his head. "No. I mean, there was a bit of a twinge, but you were gentle. I loved it."
David smiled, and captured Zack's mouth in another kiss. Slowly, their tongues melded again, and for several minutes, they were one. Finally, needing to breathe properly, they broke apart. They stayed there, wrapped in each other's arms, each soaking in the presence of the other, comfortable in the silence. Not needing anything more than what they had. Finally, David shifted.
"So... tomorrow?" Zack looked at him. "My place?" Zack felt his head spin.
"You mean... You really want this to continue? You really want to stay with me?"
David frowned, concerned. "Of course. Why would I have gone this far, only to walk off now? I've been plucking up the courage to approach you for months. Now that I finally have you, I'm not letting you go until you want to leave. Which, I hope, won't be for a while..."
"It won't be forever. I never want this to end."
"Well then, we good." They snuggled some more.
Tomorrow they would do the act again, that they were nothing but work colleagues who rarely worked together. Then, tomorrow evening... David's place.
***
Zack was bored out of his mind. Garibaldi had insisted on another check in Downbelow for that scum rat Deuce. The man wasn't here, but the Chief had some kind of a grudge.
"Zack," his link activated, "I need you back at Security, there's a progress report coming in from C+C, someone needs to be there to log it in."
"On it, Chief." Garibaldi would, of course, be staying down here to continue the chase. Warrant Officer Ahab had his whale to catch.
After about 15 minutes, Zack happily took his seat in the Security Hub. His feet were killing him. So was his back. He could hardly wait until tonight...
As if on cue, David walked in.
He was out of breath, as if he'd run all the way from C+C. His hair was slightly messed up, and his uniform was creased in many...many places. At sight of Zack, his eyes lit up. Despite all of this, he exuded calm in his demeanour as he walked towards the desk.
"Lieutenant Commander Ivanova sent me with this weeks' progress report from C+C. Nothing of exceptional note, we had two minor threats from irate ship pilots but the Commander put them in their place-"
"It's alright David." Said Zack. "No-one's here. It's just you and me."
David promptly dropped the sheaf of papers on the desk and leaned across, grabbing Zack by the front of his uniform. Pulling him up, he crushed his lips to Zack's in a kiss that took both their breaths away. Tongues duelling, lips firmly locked, Zack pulled his lover with him towards the armoury.
"How long... Do you have... Before..."
"Ivanova won't miss me for at least 30 minutes." Heaved David. "I ran all the way here so we could have more time..."
Pushing the gasping security officer inside, David slapped the wall console to shut the door and pounced on Zack, both of them landing on the floor, arms entangled. Pulling at each others' jackets, desperate to feel skin, they murmured into each others' mouths;
"I love you."
"I need you."
"God you're so..."
"Never leave me..."
"Zack..."
"David..."
"I wanted you all day..."
"I missed you..."
"Well, that much is blindingly obvious."
They both froze, lips still locked and fists balled in each other's shirts, their jackets both pulled open. Zack's trousers were undone, and David's shirt had been pulled up, revealing a nice set of muscles. Breaking apart a little, they looked to the side.
Standing there, holding a handful of data crystals and a damaged PPG from the rack, with her eyebrows rapidly approaching her hairline, was Sergeant Victoria Lochley-Sheridan, the 17-year old Sergeant in their team. Who was watching them make out during their shift in an extension of the Security Office.
"Uhh... Sheridan..." Zack yanked David's shirt down, and quickly fixed his trousers, a court martial for lewd public behaviour in front of their technically underage co-worker flashing in front of his eyes.
"Uhh... Allan..." Smirked Sheridan, blue eyes dancing. "Aaannd... How long has this been going on?"
"Uh, well... for... well, actually..."
"It's been like this since yesterday." Said David, his voice remarkably calm for someone facing a pink slip and/or some jail time.
Sheridan whistled. "Wow, you move fast. And my last boyfriend thought it was fast to have dinner together un-chaperoned in his quarters two months after we'd decided to make a go of it. Of course, that ended when he decided to go to college instead of the Academy. I'm impressed."
"Yes, well... Uh..."
"You can relax and stop stuttering, Zack." Said Sheridan, smiling kindly now. "I'm not going to blab. Though, for the record, I don't think anyone on the station whose opinion should matter to you, personally or professionally, would hugely disapprove of this. We're facing difficult times, the more true love we can find, the better."
"Thank you Sergeant." Said David, still managing to sound dignified and professional, even from the floor. "Now, uh, if you don't mind, Zack and I were in the middle of something."
"Yes, I saw." The smirk was back. "I'll go back out and log in this diagnostic and repair data." On her way out, she turned back. "Aren't you so happy I insisted on soundproofing the armoury?" With that, she shut the door.
David and Zack looked at each other.
***
From outside, Vicki could swear she heard a moan. She quickly shook her head. No, she had gotten Michael to soundproof the armoury, using some phoney work excuse. He, of course, assumed that she snuck boys in there for make out sessions. She actually went in there to cry when things got too much for her. Not that she ever intended to admit that. Better Garibaldi think she was indecent than a weakling.
Suddenly, the man-in-grey himself walked in. "Hey, Vicki, where's Zack?"
"Zack? Haven't seen him."
"He was supposed to be here to get the reports from C+C into the log."
"Ah." Damn. She needed to think of something, fast. "I was just doing that. Oh, you know, on my way here I passed Lieutenant Corwin in the corridor. He was talking on his link and I think I heard Zack's voice on the other end. I think they were talking about needing to get some files from somewhere."
"Some files from somewhere?" Repeated Garibaldi, his voice and face completely deadpanned as he watched her pick up the papers and scan them into the system.
"Hey, I don't make it a point to spy on my fellow colleagues. I just overheard some of what Corwin was saying, and I think it was Zack he was talking to."
Garibaldi looked outraged. "I do not spy on my co-workers. I just... observe." Vicki raised an eyebrow. "Closely." Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, Vicki tapped the console. "Well, I just finished the logging-"
"Good. You know..." Mentally groaning at what would undoubtedly be a long speech about a way to improve these reports schedules, Vicki raised her eyes to look at Garibaldi... just in time to see Corwin and Allan open the armoury door behind him. Both of them froze at sight of his back, which was thankfully to them. Vicki felt her eyes widen. She quickly looked between Garibaldi and the two lovers, whose appearance was messed up enough for even someone with all the emotional subtleties of a blaster, like Garibaldi, to guess what was going on. While he probably wouldn't disapprove per se, he certainly wouldn't let them live it down, or keep quite to the others. She needed to do something.
Thinking quickly, and seeing that Garibaldi was turning around, thankfully with his eyes shut in emotional expression in his speech, Sheridan quickly sent a prayer to any omnipotent forces that may have been listening...
And slammed all four of her left fingers in the desk drawer.
"YEEEEEEEOOOOOUUUUUCH!!!" Garibaldi almost jumped out of his skin, and whirled around. Vicki yanked her hand, which already sported some impressive purple bruising, up to her mouth. Thanking her Dad in her head for the 3 drama lessons she had taken as a child, she faked tears and pained gasps. "Ow... this really hurts..."
Garibaldi, of course, immediately ran forward to tend to her hand, while David looked set to do the same. Vicki quickly glared at him and Zack, looking insistently at the door. Zack, getting the picture, dragged the both of them out, as Garibaldi gently took Vicki's hand in both of his own.
"This doesn't look tooo bad." Garibaldi crooned comfortingly.
"Yes... It does feel better." Said Sheridan, pulling back on the pain performance. "It's just; it caught me by surprise, that's all."
"Well, we should get you to MedBay, just in case. We wouldn't want to find out the hard way that you've broken something, now do we?" Garibaldi smiled, and helped Vicki up.
As they walked out of the door, Vicki reflected that, for all his grouching and grumbling, Garibaldi could be a really kind and thoughtful man sometimes. She was glad to have him as her friend.
***
Two hours and some scolding from Steven later, Vicki was back in her quarters, sporting some cool bandages around each of her fingers on her left hand. Commander Sinclair and Lieutenant Commander Ivanova had already been round, Sinclair to make sure that Vicki had all of her fingers intact, Ivanova to tell her that she really could leave her brain behind sometimes. Vicki had pulled faces as ever and shooed the both of them out as soon as she could without being unconscionably rude. She had also received a call from her Dad, which she was still smiling about, when her door chime rang.
"Enter." She called, and was greeted with the site of Lieutenant Corwin, in civvies and carrying a small box under his arm.
"Hi Sergeant."
"Please, we're out of hours, call me Vicki."
He smiled, and relaxed a little. "Alright, Vicki. I just wanted to check on you after the hand thing..."
"Oh yes," she smiled, raising her hand to show the wrappings. "Nicely bound. I won't be working rifle PPGs for at least two weeks. At least I didn't break anything."
"Oh," said Corwin, relaxing even more. "That's excellent news."
"Mmm." Murmured Vicki, looking Corwin up and down. When she caught his eyes, she raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, yes, why I'm here..." He handed her the parcel from under his arms. "I thought you might appreciate this. As a thank you for earlier."
Looking bemused and curious, Vicki accepted the package. After some juggling trying to open it one handed, she got the wrapping paper off. It was a plain blue box, markless and plain. Looking up at Corwin briefly, who smiled, she opened the box. And gasped.
Inside was a beautiful bracelet, made of amethysts and quartz crystals. Not horrendously expensive, nor in any way romantic, thankfully, but still, a very touching and thoughtful gift.
"We, that is, Zack and I, know you've always had a strong interest in crystals. We hoped you'd like it..."
"I love it. Thank you, David. And thank Zack for me too."
"Of course. I would love to stay but..."
"No no, you should go. Things on the station have been calm recently, which means we're in for some kind of huge catastrophe, so better make the most of the quiet moments! You and Zack should spend as much time together as you can." Vicki smiled, trying to keep the tears, real ones of gratitude this time, out of her eyes.
"Yes... well, if you ever need anything..."
"I'll know who to call." David left, smiling and at ease. Vicki put the pretty box on the kitchen counter, and tried on the bracelet. It was the stretchy kind, not that it needed to stretch for her. It rested comfortably on her wrist. Vicki looked at it, still feeling the tears of happiness in her eyes at the small gesture of friendship, something she hadn't experienced much of from her co-workers before she came to Babylon 5.
"I think," she murmured to herself as she started to get ready for bed, "that they will make an excellent couple."