Brooklyn's Bridge

by MetusR

After spending so much time as a supporting character in more than a few stories, Brooklyn finally gets her due.

1. Chapter 1

Part One – Happy Launch Day to me.

I wake up and look at my phone, five minutes before my alarm would go off, with a sigh I sit up and turn off my alarm before I swing my legs over the side of my bed. I turn on my lamp beside my bed and look at myself in the mirror on the far side of my room. I sigh and slap my tanned cheeks with both hands before I get out of bed and open my curtains to see it's raining, again. I hang my head and sigh, why did I expect anything different for a day this late into November. I turn slightly to look at the new bikini I had ordered, which was colored to look like the Eagle Union flag, maybe I'll get to use it this weekend. Out of everything to do with this base out in the middle of the Pacific, that was the best part, it didn't get cold here. Now if only the weather would cooperate…

I go over to my closet and take out one of my uniforms and lay it out on the bed, I know that it's made of water-resistant fabrics but it is a little on the skimpy side, like bordering on a swimsuit if I'm honest about it. My next stop is getting my make-up bag, toiletries, fresh underwear, and a towel before I go to take over the shower first today.

Don't get me wrong, I love living with my sisters, Boise, Honolulu, and Phoenix, but four women and one bathroom is a recipe for disaster. But it seems we've all got the schedule down so that we don't trip over each other every morning.

Once I'm in the bathroom I strip down and step under the shower, closing my red eyes as I feel the warm water make its way over and down me while I run through a mental checklist of everything that I need to do today.

I know that Captain Smith was due back last night, late last night at that, so he's likely to either call in sick today or be in super late. I turn in the shower to get my back wet as I recall it's his laun… birthday, humans have birthdays, Brooklyn, today. I remember that because it's my launch day today too.

With me being thoroughly wetted down I clean myself with soap before I go about shaving my legs, underarms, and trimming up down below. I want it ready down there if I get a chance to use that new bikini soon.

Just as I reach to turn off the water, I hear the toilet flush, so before the sudden change in water temp hits me, I turn it off. I sigh to myself, I guess at least one of my sisters is up now.

Leaning out of the shower I see Honolulu fixing her hair and going through her morning prep in front of the bathroom mirror. She sees me and smiles as she tells me, "Morning Brook."

Getting out of the shower I wrap my towel around myself before I say to her, "Morning Lulu, did you have fun with Lou last night?"

She nods, but I can see a bit of a scowl on her face so I ask, "What's wrong?"

"Lou managed to talk me into getting a new bikini, and I swear it's like two sizes too small." She says while folding her arms across her chest.

I tilt my head to the side and ask, "Lulu, are you sure that even the tiniest part of you didn't want it?"

She sighs and looks down when she mumbles, "Maybe I did."

I give her a quick squeeze before I tell her, "Then don't worry about it, I know Lou just wants to help you be more comfortable in your skin, Lulu."

She sighs and nods, still time for me to get into the office before too long.

XXXX

Once I'm in the office I get the coffee going, documents organized, and placed on his desk. Just as I'm leaving his office I stop and look at a picture of Captain Smith and the smile on his features as he's shaking hands with the Eagle Union President after being awarded a Navy Cross. I reach up and adjust the picture that had become crooked somehow.

With his office correctly arranged I nod to myself and go to my office to retrieve the little bag, I had put in my desk last week. Pulling open that drawer I take out the bag and the card, I smile to myself, today was special, out of everyone on base, I was the only one he trusted to know it was his birthday. I also take a moment to double-check with the kitchens that lunch is all set. I smirk to myself I had gone out of my way to contact his mother of all people to find out his favorite things to eat. Though that had been a strange conversation and I had to explain that I was not her son's girlfriend, just his secretary, I'm still not sure if she really believed me or not on that.

I get confirmation that the kitchens will be sending up a portion of this concoction called a seven-layer casserole as well as a slice of lemon meringue pie. I check the clock quickly, I still have a few minutes before he should be arriving, I quickly head back into his office and put the bag and card on his desk.

I just get back to my desk when I hear the door open, I smile at him as I say, "Good morning Captain Smith, how was the trip?"

I watch as he closes his green eyes and yawns before taking his cap off of his brown hair and tucks it under his left arm as he says, "DC was nice, but's good to be back."

I give a nod as he crosses to the kitchenette to get a cup of coffee before heading into his office for the day. A moment later, he sticks his head out of his office, a goofy grin on his face as he says to me, "Thanks, Brooklyn!"

"Welcome, Sir, happy laun… birthday." I respond.

XXXX

Lunch arrived right on time and I took the tray from Belfast who gave me a quizzical look as she said to me, "This is a very strange combination for lunch, are you sure this is something he'll enjoy?"

I nod as I tell her, "I am, and I'll take it in for you today."

Belfast gives me a sideways look before she shrugs and hands over the platter; once she's gone I move to open his office door. When I open it, I can't help but smile at the sight, I see him finishing snapping together a part of the hull for the model kit I picked up for him. It's a 1/700 scale of his old ship, the one that got him that Navy Cross for managing to hold the Panama Canal for two days with just the USS Alaska after his CO had been killed and he took command. He looks up from his kit and smiles at me; smiling back I say to him, "Lunch is here, Sir."

He slides the kit to the side of his desk and asks me, "How did you ever manage to find this? It's been sold out for months."

As I put down the tray I say to him, "A diplomat never tells all her secrets."

He gives me a sideways look and starts to say something, but that comes to an end when I see his eyes light up as I take off the lid of the tray. I watch as he closes his eyes and takes in the smell, his smile becoming so broad as he says to me, "How did you manage to get this out here?"

I step back with the tray held against my belly as I say to him, "I have my ways. By the way Sir, you should call your mother. She worries about you, you know."

He sits back and smiles at me as he says to me, "I'll call her later, thanks, Brooklyn."

I nod and return to my desk to enjoy my guilty pleasure today, a cheesesteak sandwich on a lightly toasted bagel.

XXXX

I was amazed how fast the day went by, and I now I was cleaning up the kitchenette for tomorrow, Captain Smith had headed home about an hour ago. As I finish getting the coffee maker ready for tomorrow, I look at the grinds in the filter and I say to myself, "Happy Launch day, Brooklyn."

"Thank you for remembering, Sir." I sighed out.

I close up the coffee maker and make one final check of the kitchenette before I return to my office, my red eyes going wide as I see a tall bag standing on my desk, a blue and white ribbon hanging off the side of it, like the one I keep in my hair.

I tilt my head to the side as I go over to it and see that there is a card attached to it, I open it and feel a smile on my face as I read it out loud, "Did you think I'd forget?"

I fold the card and hold it to my chest before I open the bag and take out a bottle made of thick green glass. I turn it in my hand and see the label that has another note stuck to it, and again I read it out loud, "This was hard to find."

When I lift off the note I see the label on the bottle and I feel tears build in my eyes before I sit in my desk chair, this is the same brand and vintage as the bottle that was used to christen my hull. I put the bottle down and tilt the bag a little to see a third note at the bottom that reads, "Happy Launch day."

I pick the bottle back up and clutch it close to me, to think that he'd get me something so personal to me. After a while I put it back in the bag, finish shutting down the office, and start walking back to my apartment in the dorms.

XXXX

When I get inside I see that all three of my sisters are out, with a shrug I leave my shoes at the door and put my gift down in the kitchen as I go about heating up some leftovers that I found in the fridge. No sooner had the microwave started to cook. Then I hear a knock at my door. I crack open the door before going back to the kitchen to get a beer ready. As I'm doing that I hear two voices, and I smile, I know them both really well, "Are you sure she's here?" one of them asked, that would be Helena, one of my half-sisters.

"I saw her entering the dorms earlier, she's home." The other voice said which belonged to my other half-sister St. Louis.

"I'm in the kitchen." I call back to both of them.

Shortly after I said that I heard rapid footfalls before arms wrapped around me from behind in a tight squeeze as Helena said to me, "Happy launch day, Brooklyn!"

I put a hand onto Helena's as I tell her, "Thanks, you're the second person to say something to me about it today."

I feel a hand drape across my shoulders before St. Louis says, "Lulu was likely in her own little world, while Boise and Phoenix were asleep still?" I nod just as I see a little bag swing into view as Lou adds, "Just a little something from me and Helena."

I reach over and hug Lou as I tell her, "Thanks."

Just as I take the bag and start to open it Lou tells me with a wink, "Open it later."

Ah. I have an idea of what it might be then, a… stress-relieving tool likely. I watch as Lou goes over to the bag with the bottle of champagne in it. She leans it over and takes it out, rolling it over she asks me, "Wow, this is hard to find and pricey, who gave it to you?"

I feel my cheeks get a little hot as I say, "The Captain did. It's the same brand and vintage as the one that was used to christen my hull."

Lou looks at me over her shoulder and wink as she teases me, "Are you sure you're just a secretary?"

I sigh and go over to the bottle and take it away from Lou as I say to her, "His mother said the same thing to me when I asked her for the recipe for his favorite thing to eat."

Helena tugged on my arm and asked, "Did you make it for him?"

I shake my head as I take my bottle to my room and tell them both, "No, I sent the recipe down to the kitchens and had them make it for his lunch today."

Once I've got the bottle on my desk I hear Lou behind me asking, "So what did you do for his birthday then?"

I turn the bottle a little so that I'll be to see the label from my bed as I tell Lou, "I got him a limited edition kit with all the photo-etch parts for the USS Alaska, right down to in-scale humans for the crew."

"You love him." Lou says from behind me, causing me to spin on my heels to face her.

My cheeks were so hot.

Lou stood leaning against my door frame, her arms across her belly and smirk on her face as she added, "You know how much that ship meant to him."

I clear my throat and look off to the side as I say to her, "Maybe I just wanted to make sure he had a good day."

Lou crosses my room to hug me as she whispers in my ear, "He trusted you, and only you, with his birthdate. I only know because I went snooping and found his file by pure luck."

I sigh and rest my forehead against her shoulder and say to her, "Maybe, just maybe, I might like doing things for him that have nothing to do with fleet affairs."

Lou rubs my back as she whispers, "I won't tell anyone."

With a quick squeeze before I let go, I say to her, "Thanks, Lou."

A moment later I hear the door to the apartment open again and Lou smiles and says to me, "Okay, everything is ready now, come on Brook."

I follow her out to the shared living space and I see all of my sisters standing around the coffee table, with a cake on it that was in the shape of my hull from above and they said in unison, "Happy Launch day Brooklyn!"

I feel my eyes tear up a little, if I'm honest about it, I kind of thought they forgot. But right now, this was great, Phoenix lights the singular candle on it and says to me, "Make a wish."

I lean over, brushing my hair back with both hands, and blow it out; I know what I wished for, that the Captain would see me as more than just his secretary. I knew it was a stupid wish, but after today and that bottle of champagne, I couldn't help it.

XXXX

With the party over, my sisters gone off to their rooms for the night, Helena gone back to her apartment, Lou stayed behind and was on the couch, her arms stretching across the back of it as she looked over her shoulder at me and asked, "So, what did you wish for?"

I close the fridge after grabbing a couple of bottles of beer and walk over to her, giving her one as I sit down beside her and say, "Something stupid and selfish."

Lou laughs and angles her beer towards mine, with a clink of mine she says, "Well, knowing you, that could be almost anything."

I sigh and take a sip before taking out my ribbon and shake my hair out before I say to her, "Ever since I got that bottle and our little talk earlier I've been wondering that maybe there might be a chance at something more." I pause to drink more before I add, "Heck, when I called his mother to find out his favorite foods she wanted to know if I was his girlfriend."

Lou laughs again and nods her head before saying to me, "I remember you mentioning that before, I guess it really stuck with you, huh?"

I feel my cheeks get hot again as I slowly nod and mumble out, "Maybe."

Lou shrugs and says to me with a straight face, "So conduct a boarding action with him and see if there is anything there."

I just about choke on my beer, leaning forward to pat my chest to try and cough it up, Lou laughs hard and she rubs my back as she says, "That's what I did with Marcus, it answered the question we both had, nothing was really there."

I blink a couple of times and give her a sideways look before I say to her, "I think I'd better sleep on it-"

Lou winks as she says, "If you fall asleep on it he's not that good."

I didn't think my cheeks could get any hotter, yet I was proven wrong.

Lou for her part stood up, chugged the rest of her beer before saying to me, "But I need to get home and you need to get to bed, I know you and how much you take your role as secretary seriously."

I put my beer down and hug my half-sister as I say to her, "Thanks for the chat, Lou."

She returns the hug as she says to me, "Happy Launch day Brook."

"Thanks, Lou." I respond to her.

XXXX

I flop down on my bed after stripping down to just my underwear, I roll to my belly and open the bag that Lou and Helena had brought over, and dump out the contents, I see a picture of the entire Brooklyn class with the St. Louis subclass, I remember that day, it was a little windy and Boise took the picture. I smile at myself in the photo, leaning forward towards the camera, brushing a little hair behind an ear. It's a great picture of most of us together.

It was the other items; the ones I knew came from Lou that made my cheeks get hot again, a personal… device for stress relief, and some really nice underwear.

I hear my phone made noise from beside my bed and I roll over to grab it, as I flip it over I see I've got a DM from the Captain. I raise an eyebrow and open the message to give it a read to myself, "Brooklyn, thank you for the gift, I really do love it. I just hope you appreciate the one I got for you too and I'm sorry I didn't give it to you face to face, but I had something I needed to take care of. Anyways, I hope you've had a good Launch Day and I'll understand if you want to stroll in a little late tomorrow."

Below the note I see a picture of him, grinning away with that kit all around him. I smile at the picture before I write him back; saying everything to myself as I type it out, "Thank you, Sir, I hope you had a good Birthday and I'm glad that you are enjoying the gift. As for me, I was really touched that you managed to find something so personal to me; it really touched me that you took such an interest in me. But don't worry Sir; I'll be in on time tomorrow."

After I hit send, I close my phone and sigh out, "There was more I wanted to say, but I'm not sure how appropriate it would be for me to say it, Sir."

I sit up and plug my phone back in before I get under the covers and turn out the light for the night.

XXXX

XXXX

A/N: Chapter 1 was a bit short, but it starts the ground work for Brooklyn's story.