A Thankful Fish Dinner
As the group of friends are eating the fish dinner, they begin conversing about the the events that brought them all together. Tessa for her part was listening to the conversation with a glance every now and then to Souske. She looks to each one of the people sitting at the table with her and gives a smile that says she is confident in who they are.
"Madame Capt.?
"Yes Mr. Kalinin?" Says Tessa upon hearing her name from the Russian CMDR.
"I was wondering about how you and Sagara were able to pull this all off?" Kalinin says with a movement of his hand over the table.
"Well, we came up with the idea since so many fish were caught. Of course Souske had already caught several when I showed up.
"I see, that is why the one fish in front of you and Sagara was caught by both of you?
"Yes." Tessa says blushing.
"I bet Souske taught you how to fish, huh?" Kurz says with a mischievous smile.
"No Mr. Weber, Souske did not have to teach me how to fish." Tessa says a little bit miffed "I already knew how to fish since my father taught me when I was younger.
"Ok so how did both of you catch the fish then?
"The fish took both of our hooks." Souske finally says.
"Yeah rig......" Kurz tries to say as Melissa elbows him in the ribs.
Everyone begins to laugh at Kurz's expense.
The conversation goes back to what what everyone is doing. Unconsciously, Tessa puts her hand on Souske's leg and gives it a gentle squeeze. Souske a little stunned by the act looks at her and smiles which she returns. They both go back to eating the fish.
"So Andrei, what do you think of this meal that the Capt. and SGT. Sagara provided for us." Mardukas aks of his colleague.
"It is very good Rich.
"That it is and I think the Chef did an excellent job of preparing it and putting the rest of the meal together." With everyone agreeing to Mardukas's assessment with a nod. Which also brings a blush to both Souske and Tessa.
After the dinner is over they all sit back looking at each other with Melissa, Kurz, Mardukas, and Kalinin looking at the two teens that provided such a great meal with smiles on their faces. This in turn made both Tessa and Souske beat red. As if on Que. Andrei Kalinin lifts up his wine glass.
"I propose a toast." He says with a glint in his eye. "To Teletha Testarossa and Souske Sagara for providing a great meal fit for the Czars."
"Here, Here!" The others say looking at both of them.
Tessa looks down with a smile on her face then to Souske who is also smiling. She then starts to stand up when she takes Souske's hand into hers to indicate she wanted him to stand with her.
With them both standing and holding hands, they look at there friends and take a bow.
"Thank you all for having dinner with us." Tessa finally says to them.
As they both begin to sit down both CMDR.'s stand up and approach them. As Kalinin hugs Tessa which takes her by surprise. Mardukas shakes Souske's hand.
"Mr. Sagara, you know I do not like you much, but I can tell that you would never do anything to harm anyone at all unless it was necessary.
"Thank you." Souske says with a little nervousness in his voice.
"You know Capt., your father would be proud of you today." Kalinin tells Tessa in her ear as he hugs her.
"I know Mr. Kalinin, I know." Tessa says a bit choked up.
After Kalinin finishes hugging her, he takes Souske's hand and gives it a firm shake.
"You have done a fine job Souske." He says in a fatherly kind of voice. "Keep it up.
"I will sir, and thank you."
Mardukas goes up to Tessa and gives her a hug and whispers in her ear. "I know you like SGT. Sagara so I will not interfere with any relationship you have with him.
Tessa's reaction was one of complete shock then it turned into a deep red blush when realization comes to her.
"Thank you Mr. Mardukas. And I will remember what you said.
With that Mardukas releases Tessa and stands next to Kalinin. Both Melissa and Kurz watched in silence as Tessa and Souske are thanked by both CMDR's. This prompts Melissa to get up with Kurz following suit. They approach their friends and give them both hugs with Melissa giving Souske a Kiss on the cheek.
"I thank you all for joining us for dinner." Tessa finally says to them all.
As if on Que. They all reply "Your Welcome Capt." With that said Tessa blushes.
As everyone begins to leave they say their final thanks to both Tessa and Souske.
On the way down the corridor from the Mess Hall Mardukas asks Kalinin a question.
"Do you think that it will be fine for the Capt. and SGT. Sagara to pursue a relationship?
"I think it will be all right since that they are both the same age and the fact that Mithril command decided to make an exception for her in that regard.
"What do you mean they made an exception in her case?" Madukas says looking at Kalinin.
"They understood that her age proved to be a problem in the fact that she would not relate well with people older than her until they found out that Mr. Sagara was the same age so they made that allowance." Kalinin explains to his friend.
"I see. I am glad even though I would never agree to it myself."
"That is good to hear since there are those that are still opposed to the Capt. in any case." Kalinin says while stroking his beard.
"I knew that there are individuals that are still opposed to her being in command at such a young age and that they think that she should be used in other areas. But not to allow her to have a life is not an option." As Mardukas says this he has a better understanding of what some of the higher ups really want to do.
"They will realize in time that she is just as valuable as Sagara."
"I hope they do." Mardukas says as they reach their respective quarters. "Well, I will see you at the dock tomorrow to go over the repair of the flight deck.
"See you then Rich. and goodnight."
They both bid each other goodnight and go into their quarters.
Melissa and Kurz are walking back to their quarters as they wonder what Tessa and Souske talked about.
"I bet that Tessa bared her true feelings to Souske while fishing. What do you think Melissa?
"I don't think she did, but you never know." Melissa says with a frown.
"The looks that she gave Souske says that they have shared something meaningful." Kurz says with a thoughtful look that gets him a quick elbow in the ribs. "Owww.... Why did you do that for.
"Because you deserved it for the way you looked and because I know how you think." Melissa says with a look on her face that could melt an iceberg.
They continue to walk in silence when they reach Kurzs room.
"Now go to bed before I hurt you more." Melissa says while pounding her fist in her hand for emphasis.
"Of course Melissa." Kurz says as he opens his door goes in.
"You better not come out until morning you letch." With that said Melissa turns away when his door closes and goes to her room to get some sleep.
After their friends left Tessa and Souske sat and talked for a little bit. As the clock in the hall read 2200 they both agreed that it was late and it was time to go to bed. They left the Mess Hall together. As Souske walked with Tessa to her Quarters he could not take his eyes off of her.
"Ah Tessa.." Souske finally says breaking the silence.
"Yes Souske?
"I was wondering if you would like to go someplace other than the base of course for a nice quiet dinner sometime in the near future?
"I would love that Souske!" She says while moving her hand to take his hand in hers.
They reach Tessa's quarters and she turns to face Souske with her eyes wide.
"Well here we are Souske.
"Yes we are, Tessa.
Tessa opens her door, then getting on the balls of her feet she closes the distance to kiss him goodnight. Souske notices this and moves towards her and their lips touch in a more intimate way than when they had first kissed. After a moment they break the bond.
"Goodnight Souske.
"Goodnight Tessa.
After Tessa closes her door, Souske heads to his quarters with a smile on his face. He knows he will sleep well tonight.
As Tessa changes into a night shirt and looks at herself in the mirror with a great big smile on her face, she thinks over everything that has ever happened to her. She walks over to her bed and stands by it for just a few minutes. Tessa looks at her bedside table and sees a picture of her and Souske that day he taught her how to pilot an A/S. With one final look at the picture and at Souskes feature's she starts to climb into bed. As she climbs into bed and lies down she feels a flame inside her grow. She falls asleep with a smile on her face thinking about Souske.
A/N: I hope you all liked it. It probably is not my favorite chapter. I had a hard time writing it. This will be it for the time being unless I can get to a comp. and upload from there. And no this is not the end of the story. On a side note, I removed two to three sentences because I wanted to keep the rating at the PG to PG-13 level from the last paragraph. Tessa and Souske of course, are still under 18.