Chapter Twenty-Four
The transporter effect dissolved, and a lone figure rushed toward me from the control bank.
"Jerry!" I said, offering a handshake but taking a brief hug.
"Good to have you back, man…uh, Captain," he corrected himself, staring with embarrassment at the rest of my team. "By the way, no one knows you're here. As far as the crew is concerned at the moment, we just came to rendezvous with the Titan for information exchange."
"That's good, although I think it's time to fix that. Let's get to the bridge," I said. "We've got a lot of ground to cover in a short time."
On the way to the turbolift, I paraphrased what had transpired in the last few days, focusing primarily on the key points of Valeris, Admiral Heaton, and Q. When I was done, Jerry whistled.
"And I thought we'd been busy. Since you've been gone, we've been primarily running perimeter checks for the Romulan border. The Borg fleet hasn't advanced, so we've been relaying messages back and forth with the Empire."
"That doesn't sound like a very stimulating job," I commented as we entered the turbolift. "Bridge."
"It's not, but we requested the duty, since it meant we'd be the first to know if there was any word from you guys."
"Thanks fer that, Commander," Tex said. He was looking much better, thanks to Doctor Phlox's superb care.
"Yes, Jerry. We're certainly relieved to be back."
"As am I."
The turbolift doors swooshed open, and I stepped once again onto the bridge of my ship. I couldn't help but smile at the astonished gasps around me.
"Reports of my death are mildly exaggerated," I said, moving toward my chair. I sat down, feeling the warm padding beneath me. I realized that it was the most comfortable seat I'd had for days. "Helm, lay in a course for the fleet. Maximum warp."
"Aye aye, Captain."
I looked around for Julie. I had been fixating on this moment for days now, but she was nowhere on the bridge.
"Commander," I said quietly to Jerry, "where is Lieutenant Brock?" I couldn't be sure, but I almost thought I heard a polite snicker somewhere behind me. I decided to let it go.
"I believe she's in her quarters, Captain. She's not on duty for another hour or so."
"I see. And how long before we reach the fleet?"
"Best speed will get us there in six hours," Jerry said.
"All right. Commander, I want a staff meeting in my Ready Room in half an hour."
"Is that going to be long enough?" Jerry asked, an expressionless grin dancing across his eyes.
"Very funny. Just see to it."
"Aye, Captain."
As I stood outside the door to her quarters, I could barely hear the thrumming of Ascension's engines over the sound of my own rapid heartbeat. I had given up thinking that I was being ridiculous; I figured at this point that life was too short to be bothered by nagging doubts about my almost sophomoric approach to the romantic euphoria I felt around Julie.
Yet for a moment, I could not bring myself to reach out and touch the buzzer to her door. Several times I reached for it, but held back. A thought popped into my head at that moment: to be or not to be.
To be, I decided, boldly reaching out and pressing the button.
An eternal silence. Nothing. It had taken nearly all the courage I had just to ring once. Frustrated, I reached out again…
"Come in," came her voice over the speaker.
I tried to collect myself, even as my palpitating heart became one with my spleen. I took a tentative step forward, and the doors to her quarters opened in response. Her room was dark, and at first I could only see the rectangle of carpet lighted by the door, my shadow looking far braver than I in the midst of it. A shadow passed over the blur of stars at the window, and as it came my way her features revealed themselves.
"Julie," I said, almost in a whisper. I could see her now; she wore pajamas from our time. Her hair was a mess, and it looked as if I had awakened her. She had never looked so beautiful.
"Mike!" She nearly shouted it, and suddenly rushed forward across the remaining distance between us, flinging herself into my arms. She tried to speak, but she was taken by a paroxysm of choked sobs, which afforded her little breath to say anything.
"I…thought…you…were…"
"I'm not," I said, placing my arms around her. I let her cry, enveloping her and resting my chin on the top of her head. I felt very suddenly as if time itself had stopped – frozen a moment that we could share. And in that moment, I too felt tears slip down my cheeks, splashing silently among the golden tresses of her hair. Her head moved slightly, as though she were trying to bury herself in my chest. Perhaps it was a shallow moment, but I didn't care. As far as I was concerned, I could spend the rest of my life holding her.
But that was not to be. She finally regained herself a little, and looked up at me.
"I was so worried about you," she said.
"I'm sorry," I replied, unashamed that my voice trembled. "I was worried about you, too."
"No," she said. "You don't understand." She pulled gently away, turning toward the window. "I didn't want the last thing we said to each other…" she broke off.
"I understand," I said. "But you were right to say what you did. I didn't hold it against you."
"No, Mike," she whispered. "I wasn't. And I've had a few days of hell to realize it." I drew my arms around her from behind, leaning over to kiss her cheek.
"And now that I'm back?" I asked softly. To my surprise, she giggled a little through her tears, turning to face me again.
"You're stuck with me, Captain sir." And she kissed me. For a moment we lingered, staring into each other's eyes. Then she took my hand and led me to a small sofa by the window. I sat down, and she curled up next to me, nestling in the crook of my arm.
"What now?" I asked, smiling out at the stars in front of us.
"Just hold me for a little while," she whispered.
