- „El amor entra por la cocina." -
- Spanish proverb ("Love enters through the kitchen")
In the end, not only Uhura, but also Spock, Scotty and Sulu accompanied them to dinner. Commodore Roseleaf had sent her husband back to his office after threatening him with all sorts of reprisals if he wouldn't leave Chris alone for the time being, and joined them, too. She was chatting animatedly with Sulu about botany, which seemed to be a mutual hobby.
As Leonard looked around the table, he saw Spock engaged in a serious discussion with Admiral Reed, while Scotty was flirting with Uhura, who threw back her head, laughing. The atmosphere was open, cheerful, relaxed.
He turned to Chris, touching his hand under the table and felt warm, gentle fingers grasping and caressing his own.
"How is Joana?" Chris asked him quietly.
"The last time I talked to her, she and her mother were planning on spending spring break at a ranch in Texas. Jo was excited about horse-back riding and getting to wear a cowboy hat." He smiled at the recollection and looked up, only to find his smile mirrored on Chris' face.
"Is she going to come?"
"Jocelyn will send her up in a couple of days." He paused before adding: "She told me about that game you gave her for her birthday. She loved it."
"Really? Well, I'm glad. I had to ask Elva for help, when I got it… do you remember Elva?"
The picture of a blond, blue-eyed girl looking a little too serious for her age appeared in front of Leonard's inner eye. He nodded. He had met Chris' niece briefly.
"She ought to be thirteen or fourteen now…"
"She's fourteen. Her sisters are sixteen and five. They are all back in San Francisco now, since my brother-in-law decided to spend his last few years of work on firm ground. It's quite an adjustment with Laurel back in town… my little sister is an impossible person."
Leonard grinned. "You know, I'm curious. I think I'd like to meet them all…"
"And you undoubtedly will," Chris sighed, "if Laurel has her way, and she always does…"
"Sounds like you had fun growing up together."
"You have no idea…"
Just then, Admiral Reed, who had apparently finished his conversation with Spock, leant closer, a good-natured twinkle in his eyes. "So… Christopher, I hear you're in for a formal reprimand?"
Chris winced, but he stood his ground. "If they let it come to that."
"What did you do?" Leonard asked suspiciously. "Jim mentioned something, but I guess I wasn't really listening."
"No, I guess, you really weren't," Reed said, brows raised, "considering that everybody has been talking about it – or shouting, that is, in Rebekka's case. What it all comes down to is that Christopher – after leaving his former assignment as Head of Starfleet's Personnel and Recruiting Division in a rush – somehow managed to turn the ship that was supposed to carry him to Romulus around in mid-flight and return to Earth." He looked at Chris. "Luster and his superiors are furious with you for letting them down. Well – as furious as diplomats ever get. Relations with Romulus are bad enough as it is, they hardly needed for their newly appointed ambassador to change his mind and leave them empty-handed."
"Wait a minute," Leonard cut in, "you're to be ambassador to Romulus? After what Nero did to you? Are you out of your mind?"
"I asked him that, too," Rebekka Roseleaf said, "my husband was thrilled, though. He's been meaning to get Chris for the job ever since he was fit for duty again."
"Well, then I'm sorry to say that his people skills suck, diplomat or not," Leonard replied angrily, before turning to Chris: "You could have told me, by the way."
"Hardly, considering that I wasn't talking to you at the time," Chris replied, irony clearly audible in his voice.
"Well, anyway – since you're here instead of on your way to Romulus, I'd hazard a guess that you're not taking the job, after all?" Admiral Reed asked him. "Because in that case, I'll have a fair bit of paperwork to file with both the FO and Starfleet Command, pouring oil on troubled water and trying to get you reassigned without ruffling too many people's feathers in the process. We already promoted Liu, we can't take that back now." He sighed, then leant forward, eyeing Chris with interest. "I'm curious, though. I've never known you to change your mind that quickly twice in a row."
"Things happen, Malcolm. Decisions have to be revised," Chris replied stoically.
"Uh-huh."
"Why am I getting the feeling that this is my fault?" Leonard asked Chris.
"It's not," Uhura said, "it's Jim's. Well – and Admiral Pike's, for being…"
"… a pigheaded fool? Yeah, we all noticed that," Commodore Roseleaf remarked, grinning at her former superior.
"Well, thanks for pointing it out anyway," he replied sourly. "It seems that all my friends agree for once. Though I suppose I should be grateful. What Jim got me to realize – and I'm sure that was his intention all along – is that life is too short and fragile to lose time over hurt pride and thick headedness. Especially out here in space. I've lost too many people I cared about already, I should have needed Jim to remind me, but I did."
"So you went back to Earth in order to…?" Reed asked.
"Correct a mistake. And I'm hoping it's not too late." A quick look aimed at Leonard, who shook his head emphatically.
"Too late for what? Why the untimely haste?" Reed frowned in obvious confusion.
"Life's precious, Malcolm. Especially when there's someone waiting for you to tell them that you love them. I couldn't afford to lose any more time. And I've got Jim to thank for that realization… which doesn't mean that I'm not going to kill him for scaring me to death."
Everyone, including Leonard, was staring at him now, then Rebekka chuckled softly. "Guess the cat's out of the bag now, huh? You know, I was wondering about that all along…"
"So… it's personal…?" Reed asked, as if he could not quite believe that.
"Unless you consider my love-life a matter of interest to either Starfleet or the FO," Chris replied, his eyes sparkling with good humor now.
"Well then why the hell didn't you say so? I'd have understood that! Really, Christopher, by now I'm inclined to agree with Rebekka…" He shook his head. "It's okay to put private matters before business on occasion, you know."
"Trip's going to have a heart attack if I tell him you said that," Rebekka said, grinning broadly.
"Don't tell him, then."
"Where is he, by the way?"
"At home, looking after the kids… or rather, wrecking the house with their help. I'm always terrified at what I might find when I walk through the front door after I've been gone for the day. If I might offer a piece of advice to the people at this table who aren't already married – never marry an engineer. They have just as much fun taking things apart as putting them together…"
That earned him a round of good-natured chuckles, before he returned his attention to Chris.
"So… we've determined that you, too, appear to have a private life, Christopher. Surprising as this may be, I think it hardly warrants the kind of fuss everyone has been kicking up. I suggest you take some time off to figure it out, then call me about your new assignment."
"Works for me," Chris replied.
"Um… Admiral, maybe you ought to have a few words in private with Leonard," Uhura suggested slyly, "he looks about ready to choke on his drink."
Leonard shot her a furious look, but Chris just nodded gracefully. "Yes, you might have a point there, Lieutenant." He got up, stretching. "Malcolm, thank you for dinner. Everyone else, enjoy the rest of your evening and if you want to talk behind my back, please wait till I'm out of earshot."
He offered a hand to Leonard, who took it, dazed.
Uhura winked at him. "Have fun, Len."
"I'll just pretend I did not hear that," Admiral Reed remarked.