Chapter Five
Calm down! This isn't the first time that you've had dinner with a senior officer. Then again, Robert's wife was… touched. What does he see in her? That's beside the point, just ring the bell already; you're standing out here most likely making a fool of yourself.
After a quick look over my shoulders, I rang the bell, and a few moments later, a small child, around nine or ten years old. He had short brown hair and blue eyes, much like his father.
"Mom! Mr. Soul is here!" he said, walking off, leaving me alone in the doorway.
"Come on in, dinner's almost ready." A female voice said from the kitchenette that was just out of sight. The smell of real cooking food wafted through my nose, something that I haven't had in a long time.
"Ah, James, good to see you could make it, have a seat." Jon said motioning to one of the chairs around the small table. I sat down and the child that met me at the door sat next to me. "James, this is my wife Lindsey, and my son Andrew."
"It's nice to finally meet you, Commander." Lindsey said, bringing in what we were going to eat.
"That smells delicious." I said, looking at the food. "What is it?" I finally asked.
"It's Mexican food, an old recipe in Lindsey's family. It's called 'Nacho Chilli Casserole'." Jon explained.
"There's not really much too it, it's only tortia chips, chilli with shredded cheddar cheese on top, then you bake it." Lindsey explained further, dishing out the meal. "How long have you been in Starfleet James?" she asked.
"Well, counting my days in the academy, six years." I said, taking a bite of the food, not knowing what it was going to taste like. "Wow, this is pretty good."
"Thank you, its not the best meal, I would have had something better, but you got here on such short notice, and this is the quickest thing that I could make." Lindsey said sounding a bit disappointed with the meal.
"Don't think too much of it, I served directly under Admiral Matthews during the war. He's known to do things like this. This is really good; can I get the recipe? My sister is always looking for new stuff to cook." I asked.
"Sure, I'll put it on a padd for you after dinner."
"My dad says that you're a fighter pilot." Andrew said out of nowhere.
"That's right, I am. I come from a whole family of pilots."
"That's cool; I want to learn how to fly things."
"Well, it takes a special kind of person to become a good pilot. James has been flying since he was as young as you are Andrew." Jon said to his son. "Maybe someday James could teach you."
"Really!" Andrew said with his eye's lighting up. Then he looked at me.
"When you're older, ok?" I said, patting his shoulder.
"Ok." He said, kind of disappointed, and he returned to eating his meal.
"So, do you have any plans to do anything on Risa?" Lindsey asked.
"I do. This isn't the first time I've been here. I have to deliver some news to some friends who live on the planet." I told her.
"Oh?" she said, sounding interested in what that news was. I stopped eating and took a sip of my drink.
"I have to tell them that two of their friends were killed in the war." I said solemnly. I took another drink and returned to my dinner.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"It's alright. You didn't know." I said, forcing a half smile onto my face. Yeah, it's 'alright'. Keep telling yourself that. It was only your brother and the women you were in love with. I thought to myself. The meal was pretty quiet after that, with Andrew asking questions about me.
"Thank you very much for the meal, but I've got to get going." I said helping to clear the table.
"Why don't you stay a bit?" Jon asked.
"I'd like to, but I still got to get stuff unpacked, and I'm still tired from my trip here."
"Alright then, it was nice to meet you James." Lindsey said.
"It was nice to meet you too. Have a good night." I said. I nodded to the captain and left their quarters. I walked down the short distance towards my quarters looking at my feet, not really thinking about anything. Once inside, I leaned up against the doors and let out a loud sigh and rubbed my eyes. It had been thirty-two hours since I last slept, so I just got changed and collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep.