Teagan collapsed into her bed exhausted. Data was getting way too good at tag and seemed to enjoy teasing her about how fast he could find her no matter how she manipulated the environment in an attempt to thwart him. They had played this game three times a week now and for months, and it became her goal to find him in less than five minutes. She had even asked for permission to see his schematics hoping that they would help her find a way to beat him faster. It had helped a little, but finding out and understanding what went into her captain's construction had become an adventure of its own.
They had had many fascinating conversations on the subject of what made the captain tick. Teagan knew he was rather pleased that she was interested in learning.
As the captain enjoyed consistency, even their evenings together had eventually developed a pattern. They dined in the lounge on Mondays and Thursdays. They ate in the captain's quarters on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Teagan's quarters were the setting for dinner on Wednesday, and Sunday and of course Friday. Knowledge of the Captain's many interests and talents quickly became known and his weekly schedule stretched to include activities that did not include Teagan. While she was playing before growing crowd on Thursday, the captain too was also playing music. His talent for the violin had provided him with his first invitation to participate in a social activity with other crew members. This had also led to his being invited to join the dramatically talented people on board the Repulse for their play rehearsals on Saturdays. Conversation with one of the members of the quartet with whom he played on Thursdays had gained him a spot at a poker table on Sunday afternoons.
In her bed, Teagan rolled over and sighed. The captain's life was becoming very full, but he still had time to chase her around the holodeck three times a week and he liked it too much for her peace of mind. If anyone on the ship or anywhere else, for that matter, had ever seen them when they were alone together, Teagan doubted she could explain what they would see.
Data's line in the sand had not vanished, but it had definitely...moved. His past comment about kissing being overused really meant that he intended to kiss her only once a day. Well, twice really. He would kiss her on the cheek in greeting if they met in quarters or at the end of the evening if not. But that was the easy part to deal with. He would also manage to sneak in a kiss that made her stomach fill with butterflies somewhere during the evening. If they played tag, he would sneak it in there, but never where Teagan expected it. It became a game of its own. Will he or won't he? Well, he always did, but always managed to take her by surprise as though he sensed that it added to the intensity.
"One day I'm going to knock this android with the strength of ten men on his butt and rip all his clothes off. Where will his little line be then!" she groaned, and promptly fell asleep.
It was 0112 and the captain was in his ready room. The Repulse was scheduled for standard crew rotation in five days and was heading to Starbase 73 where ten crew members would leave and ten would join. This occurred normally every three months and this would be the second rotation since Data had taken command. He scanned the files of those who would be transferring aboard, but was distracted when Lieutenant Commander Xan informed Data that he had an incoming transmission from Starfleet Command.
The captain greeted Admiral Sakura and quickly absorbed the details of the mission she detailed for him and ended the transmission. Data would need to inform Commander Brent of the slight change of plan, but first he had to do something else...urgently.
He came to Teagan's door and rang for admittance. She could be asleep, as it was only 0147, but a second after he rang; the door opened for him as it usually did when he arrived for dinner. He entered quickly, now assuming that she was awake and had opened it for him. Oddly, the room was dark.
"Teagan," he called. Maybe she was still in her bedroom. "Teagan," he called again moving closer to the door that he had never passed. "Where are you?" Data's query was followed by an alarming thump from the next room. He wondered if he should see if she was alright.
"Captain?" came her confused reply.
"Yes. Do you require assistance?" he called back through the door. He heard a flurry of movement and then the door opened. Teagan stood before him in a thin silk robe of gold and royal blue. She had obviously been in a rush to put it on and was still pulling it closed and tying the waist belt. He noticed that the gown beneath was also of the same fabric and colours, even if there was only a string thin piece of material gracing her soft shoulder. The gown and robe went no further down than her knees and she was barefoot. Her hair was a mess. It stuck out in every direction and even fell over her left eye. He could not resist and reached out to brush the hair away from her face. Even in her disheveled state, Data found her beautiful.
"I woke you?" It was only half a question.
"Yes, and unless I slept through dinner, I want to know why you did...Captain." She did not sound happy. And he doubted that what he had to tell her would improve her mood.
"I just received new orders from Starfleet. I am to proceed to Starbase 72 with Dr. Jewel and Lieutenant Commander Oishii at 0800 hours this morning," he told her, even in the dim light Teagan could see that something about this was upsetting him, but she didn't understand what.
"You woke me up to tell me of a course correction?" she asked, still sounding irritated. He shook his head. "Then what are you talking about?"
"The Repulse will continue on course to Starbase 73 for the scheduled crew rotation. I will be heading by shuttle to Starbase 72," he said softly. Finally, it was making sense.
"How long?" she asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.
"Five days," he said reaching out for her hand.
"No baby new potatoes in butter sauce for you tonight, huh?" she said, her expression unreadable. Her reference was to the dish her captain favored and asked for every time she cooked for him. She had been known to tease him that potatoes were boring and that while he was a technological marvel, his palate was woefully unsophisticated.
"No food at all for five days," he corrected. She looked taken aback.
"What, they're going to starve you? Oh! Never mind." Teagan was always startled when she forgot that he wasn't human and was abruptly reminded. Data, however, liked it when she forgot this fact. Using his hold on her hand he pulled her to a couch and ordered the lights up just a bit. "Why is Jewely going?" she asked once they were seated.
"I was not informed of the reason, only that he was to join me," Data admitted. She looked confused.
"That's odd, why wouldn't they tell you? It's not classified and you can't tell me, is it?" she asked. He shook his head.
"I always inform you if something had a classified status and I cannot speak to you of it. You know that," he reminded her, gently. Teagan nodded.
"It's strange. Well...what time is it?" she asked with a yawn.
"0152," he told her.
"And you're leaving in...six hours," she choked. That did not leave much time. "I could still get with Jewely before-"
"No, Teagan. I was led to believe that it was a meeting with a superior from Starfleet Medical. We may be losing our CMO soon, but it is none of our business until he is ready to tell us."
Her eyes got wide. "You suspect that he's being promoted?" she said grinning with glee. She could think of no one more worthy.
"It is a possibility, but at this point that would only be speculation. Please, do not question him, Teagan," Data cautioned again.
"You shouldn't tell me these things if you're not going to let me use the knowledge." She yawned again. "Excuse me. You kept me up late last night, ran me ragged and now you wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me that I won't be seeing you or Jewely for five days." Another yawn escaped her. "Do you have something against my sleeping?"
Data looked offended. "I do not have anything against your sleeping. I simply thought you would want to know why I was not here for dinner tonight or the following four nights." He released her hand and looked away. He had just informed her that he would be forced to break their pattern of consecutive dinners together for the first time. Why was she talking about sleep and Dr. Jewel? For six month, Data had spent every evening in her presence and he had thought that they were as close to being in love as he was capable of inspiring in her. Perhaps he had overestimated his importance to her.
Data was hurt.
Would Teagan never love him no matter how much time he gave her? Was he just not capable of this type of relationship? He stood suddenly. He felt close to tears or anger and did not want to display either to her. He moved towards the door, but stopped. He still had to ask her a favor.
"Will you care for Stripes while I am gone?" he asked, facing the door. He could hear her rise from the couch and pad across the floor behind him. She touched his back.
"Of course. Why don't you bring her here? She's already broken all of my breakables. I'm sorry, Sunshine. I'm grumpy if I don't get enough sleep," she explained, still sounding tired.
He wanted to believe that was the only reason, but was not convinced. "I will bring her here before I depart." He moved for the door, but she caught his hand and pulling away could cause her injury.
"Why can't you bring her back now? I need to talk with you. I'm going to jump in the shower. Come back and make me some coffee, ok?" He nodded his agreement, not believing he could speak at this moment, and moved to go.
She released his hand and watched him exit her quarters without a backward glance. She yawned again and headed for her bedroom and the shower. He was acting odd, but maybe it was because she was still asleep.
The hot water hit her back and she sighed in ecstasy. A bath would have been more relaxing, but today was obviously not going to be a day to be relaxed. She needed to be on her toes...at least until the captain left. Suddenly it hit her. Data was going to be gone for five days. No dinners, no tag, no chess, no walks in the arboretum and no kisses. Closing her eyes, she remembered his last kiss. His lips pressed to hers, his body and arms holding her close- Her knees failing made her decide that this might not be the best place to daydream about kissing her captain.
Teagan was just getting out of the shower, when she smelled her coffee and heard a cat pawing at her bedroom door. She realized that she had forgotten to lock the door and pulling her towel close, waited for Stripes to enter before moving in front of the now locked door to dress. Stripes wound around her legs and when Teagan sat on the bed, she rubbed the cat's back. It was going to be so strange having Stripes here and not the captain. "What do you think of his kisses?" she asked the feline as she nuzzled her.
Stripes meowed her answer.
"I like them too," Teagan said and scooped her up in her arms. She was dressed now except for her shoes, but would wait on that. She unlocked the door and entered with Stripes.
"He's leaving us, Stripes," she said, loud enough for the captain to hear. He was sitting in a chair in the living room looking at his feet. He slowly looked at Teagan as she entered. She walked over to the couch and saw her cup of coffee on the table. She sat in front of it. Lifting Stripes up so she could look her in the eye, she continued her conversation with the puffball.
"He's going off to do that captain stuff without even a thought to us poor captain's women. We are going to be left to fend for ourselves for five whole days. What are we going to do, Sweetie? I hope we remember to eat." Stripes meowed her agreement that this was a terrible turn of events.
"I am certain that your stomach will inform you if you neglect it," the captain, said sounding very sarcastic. She released Stripes who ambled over to him, seeming to know she would not get the chance to do this again for a while.
"You're grouchy. Who's the one who lost sleep today?" she said, her tone just as biting.
"It that all that concerns you? That and whether Dr. Jewel is being promoted?" he sounded angry. Teagan was not used to this from him, but having a bad temper herself, it didn't phase her...much.
"Did you not hear me talking to Stripes about being abandoned?"
He stood, fully angry. "Foolish talk with my cat was not what I was expecting. And I did not expect you to talk to her. You asked me to come back to talk. What did you want to talk about?" he was just shy of yelling.
"I wanted to ask if you wanted me to cancel your appointments with people for this week? You know, your poker game and your rehearsal for that play and all your other social activities that you will miss while you're gone." She sounded firm, but not yet angry.
"I will attend to that," he replied.
"When? It's two in the morning; Captain and most of these people are asleep! You are going to leave before some of them get up for the day."
"I can leave them messages. I am a fast typist."
She moved to pick up her coffee. "Fine, do whatever you want. I just thought I would be helpful and deliver personal messages for you, but if you are going to be pig headed about it. Forget it!" she sipped her coffee.
Data sat, but still looked ticked. "You are not my personal assistant, Teagan." His statement was delivered in a flat tone and she looked over at him for the first time.
"That's hard for me to believe sometimes. I get lots of messages for you and give them to you. People who want to get you to come to events or when Shelby Brent wanted you to speak to her class. She could have gone through her husband, your first officer. But no, she decided to ask me during breakfast one morning. Why is that? There are normal channels one goes through to talk to the captain that are standard on most ships. But here if you want to get an informal message to the captain, you contact the captain's woman...me!"
Teagan had used that term to describe herself twice in ten minutes. But she did not really consider herself so, and it bothered Data to hear her use it again. But it bothered him even more that she did not seem truly upset that they would not be able to see each other for five days. The news had greatly troubled him. Data knew he was going to miss her terribly. Yet, she acted like it was another game, or something to tease him about.
"I regret having inconvenienced you in this way. I will try to inform the crew of the proper channels by which they can get a message to me in future."
Teagan let out a long sound of disgust. She put her coffee down and stood glaring at him. "I don't know what's gotten into you today, but maybe five days will give you time to get over it." Her fists were tightly clenched as she threw her words at him.
"Five days has gotten into me, Teagan," he growled, standing too. "But it seems that this news had disturbed only one of us. I seem to have overestimated my importance to you. I thank you for consenting to care for my cat in my absence." He was walking towards the door, but she could not believe he was going.
"Stop right there! What were you looking for in a reaction? Were you expecting me to cry like a baby? I told you about how I hated crying when I got angry. I told you that I found a way around that. I am no longer a crier, Captain. I don't cry in front of others. So if that is what you were hoping for than I'm sorry to disappoint you." She was very angry, but forced herself not to explode on him. He stood staring at her, standing rigidly by the door.
"Tears were not required. Some expression of anxiety or trepidation and I would have believed that at least you will miss me." As the last words tumbled out of his mouth, they sounded less angry and more hurt. Teagan's expression too softened.
"I will," she said quietly.
He wanted to believe her, but it was too late. "As the saying goes, Miss Teagan; actions speak louder than words!" She started to say something else, but he held up a hand. Shaking his head Data turned and walked out of her quarters. Her hands were shaking as she lowered herself back to the couch.
"How can I tell you that I will miss you without saying that...I want to erase that line in the sand." She had wanted to sit down with him and have this talk about lines, but had been afraid. If he knew how strongly she felt, would he break everything off with her? Now she wondered if not telling him had just produced the same effect.
The Captain of the Repulse went to the bridge and checked in. There were no new orders, but an injury from a soccer competition had been reported by sickbay. Data wanted to wait as long a possible to let his first officer sleep before letting him know of the new orders that would leave Commander Brent in command of the Repulse for five days.
Five days. Why did it mean one thing to him and another to Teagan? The answer of course was that Data did not mean the same thing to her that she did to him. Data had been trying to fool himself in to believing that this could work for six months now. It was time to admit that this attempt had failed. He returned to his quarters for lack of anywhere else to go. It was odd for Stripes to not greet him as he entered. It was painful to think that she was with Teagan and that that was where he wanted to be...still.
Dr. Sidney Jewel was in his quarters, awake and packing for the trip. The Captain had informed him that they would be leaving in three hours and even warned him that Teagan knew that they were leaving.
"You woke her, Captain?" he had asked the android. The captain's expression was odd even considering that he and Jewel had still not come to terms in their dealings with each other. Sidney still held a grudge and if the conversation was casual, he did not let the captain forget that.
"Yes, Doctor," the captain replied. Even on the monitor, the doctor could see that peculiar look that he had seen in this being's eyes before. He never liked seeing it there since he knew it had something to do with Teagan.
"You must enjoy living dangerously, sir. My little Teagan has been known to assault people for interrupting her sleep." He knew that throwing in the 'My' would tick this man off, but he had done it before and was not about to stop now.
"She did not appear pleased to be awakened."
This was just a statement. He was not rising to the baiting. Disappointing.
"Do you have any idea if she went back to sleep after you left?" Sidney wanted to see her if she had not. She would be mad as a Tyrillian fire cat for being awakened, but she would be mad at the captain and Sidney would enjoy that.
"I would believe she was awake. She knows you are to be leaving as well and I would expect that she was planning to see you before our departure."
"I assume she'll see us off since she's awake."
The captain's expression finally showed some reaction. This was not where Sidney had expected it, though. "I was not informed of her intentions. You would have to take that up with Dr. Shayza. I will meet you in shuttle bay one at 0745, Doctor. Captain out." Still staring at a black monitor screen, Sidney wondered what that meant. Had she tried to deck him? The doctor would have given up one of the pips on his collar to see that.
Teagan did indeed come to his door about forty minutes later. She looked very tired. Her eyes were red and her face was drawn. Her hair was pulled back in her 'I don't care about my hair today' clip and she was not smiling. He did not say a word, but held open his arms for her. She came into his arms willingly. Looking into her eyes after several minutes had passed in silence, he spoke.
"I get the sneaking suspicion that this display is not really on account that you will miss me. I hear he woke you up...very early." Who 'he' was Jewel knew he did not need to say.
Teagan nodded, and looked away. She pulled herself out of his arms and went to sit on the closest chair, which happened to be in his dining room. He followed and sat across from her.
"I never saw the need to tell him how bad I am without sleep. It would have been inappropriate for him to be in my quarters at that hour under normal circumstances." She looked very glum.
"What happened? It must have been quite a row as he didn't believe that you were coming to see us off."
She shrugged. "I guess it was. He thought I wasn't properly upset by his announcement. He decided I wouldn't miss him and when I said I would, he didn't believe me. I've never seen him so angry and upset. He gave me Stripes to watch while he's gone and left in a huff."
She suddenly got up from her chair and went to the first window in the Doctor's quarters. She stood before it, staring out. "I'm not sure Jewely, but I think he may have been trying to break it off with me when he left." Sidney jumped up at this. Ignoring the cramp that the maneuver caused in his calf, he went to her side as quickly as he could.
"Have you been crying, love?" he asked. This would be the truest indicator of how serious the situation was. It took a lot to make her cry.
"No," she told him sharply, but the doctor knew better.
"Don't lie to me, my girl." His tone was firm, but loving.
"A little. I can't take this anymore, Jewely. You were right; I never should have let it get this far. I'm to the point where it twists my insides just to see him. He's so damned contrary. I still don't really understand him." She put her hand out to smack the window in frustration. It made a slight vibrating sound.
"Our captain is very different," he agreed.
"Yeah, and I know that's one of the reasons I'm so attracted, but I can't wait around hoping anymore. Where you two get back, I think I'm going to ask for a transfer. I'm going to see if I can get Lauralee to come with me and I thought I'd tell you too in case there was a chance you wanted to tag along. I don't think my leaving would help your relationship with him."
Jewel snorted at this. No, she was probably right there. If she left it would most likely only increase the tension between the captain and his CMO. Still, Sidney could make no promises now. "I'll let you know. I think this is a wise decision, love. He has deprecated your reputation for long enough. I just hope word of his actions have not made an indelible mark on your standing." He took hold of Teagan's shoulders and turned her around. He had said the wrong thing, though, and she looking angry with him now.
"I'm not in the mood to hear this, Sidney Jewel. I won't be seeing two of my favorite men for five days and it may be that when you return it will get worse. Don't make me want to take my anger with him out on you." She glared at him, but the doctor knew her well enough to know that it was just smoke, not fire. He pulled her into an embrace again.
"I'm sorry, love. I know it hurts now, but you'll heal. I'm a doctor, I know these things. It may still be a good idea to talk to the counselor while we're gone, though. He's a good man, Braccon." She rolled her eyes at him.
"You aren't going to like hearing this, but you and the captain have something in common, Jewely," she said, tilting her head to look at him.
"What's that?"
"You're both smart asses."
The first officer had command of the ship. Lieutenant Commander Oishii was starting the pre-flight checks of the shuttle, and Dr. Jewel was en route to the shuttle bay. It was 0738 and the captain had not spoken to Teagan since leaving her quarters. Data stood looking over the security chief's shoulder, supervising his work. The checks proceeded as per protocol, albeit slowly.
The captain heard the doors to Shuttle Bay One opened and he moved to the window in time to see Dr. Jewel enter through the doors. He was alone. Data waited until the older man had stowed his things in a shuttle compartment before greeting him.
"Are you prepared for departure, Doctor?" he asked as the doctor secured the storage compartment. The white haired man turned to face the dark haired one.
"Yes, Captain," he answered.
"You are not expecting anyone to come and see you off?" the captain asked, sure his meaning was obvious, but not caring at this particular moment.
The doctor almost smirked, but remembered himself at the last. "No, we said our good-byes in private," was all he said. He moved past the android and went to take his seat. The captain gave the order to launch, but did not move from the window that gave him a clear view of the shuttle bay entrance doors.
It was precisely 0800 as the shuttle took off towards Starbase 72. The shuttle's nacelles glowed blue and the tiny craft rose from the deck of the Repulse's bay. As the ship passed though the force field that kept the vacuum of space outside, Data saw the doors that he was staring at open. She held what looked like Stripes in her arms and stopped two feet into the bay. The captain was not sure if she could see him, but he pressed his hand to the window on impulse.
"May the Captain's women be well in his absence," Data whispered. It was ten minutes before he wanted to move again and finally took his seat with the others.