Teenage Drama Mamas
U.S.S. Enterprise, 2279.344, 1520 hours. Monday and Tuesday were hit-and-miss for the young pair, given Meruka's duties and Se'tak's classes and extracurriculars, but that Wednesday she caught up to him in the back row of the library pulling filmplasts and doing research for a paper. His arms full, she tapped him on one shoulder then smoothly approached from the other side, making him start.
"Hi," she said, giving him a soft peck on the cheek.
Se'tak's cheeks flushed. "Hi."
"I've missed you."
"I've missed you too. How's work been?"
Meruka yawned and leaned against the case opposite him. "Boring. It's just been a lot of standing around, waiting, bowing, fetching…you know, the usual."
He grinned. "The usual, right…"
"There is one thing I've been meaning to ask you though."
"Oh?" Se'tak set the filmplasts aside to properly focus on her. "What is it?"
"Well it's something I overheard your mom saying…"
He frowned. "What'd she say?"
Meruka heard the displeasure in his voice and exclaimed, "It's nothing bad, it's just that she saw me giving Lanae some lip the other day and I overheard her tell Ambassador Nissa how much I reminded her of Gaila and I just wanted to know who Gaila is, that's all."
His righteous anger quickly evaporated but the frown didn't entirely disappear. "Oh."
She looked up at him with smiling eyes. "So who is she?"
"Gaila was the first Orion Mama ever met. They were best friends and roommates back at Starfleet."
Her mouth fell open in shock. "Your mom lived with an Orion?! No wonder she speaks like a native!" He smirked at her compliment. "Where's Gaila now?"
"Um…"
"What?"
Se'tak swallowed hard. "Meruka, Gaila died in the Battle for Vulcan."
"Oh." Meruka looked like a wilted flower and he hated seeing her like that, especially because he was the cause. "Tell your Mom I'm sorry, ok? I didn't mean to remind her of her friend and make her sad…"
"Hey." He cut her off and brought her in for a hug. "My Mom's not sad—and if she is she's not acting like it. If anything I think seeing you and having you aboard has reminded her of all the good times they used to have together."
"Really?"
"Yes really, Silly."
She leaned up and kissed him on the lips. "Ok, if you say so."
"I do."
She was content to rest her head against his chest and Se'tak was happy to keep her there. As he stroked her downy red tresses he couldn't help but think of the first time he'd learned about Gaila, and aside from the physical resemblance it was funny to think that Meruka acted like his mom's late friend too.
"Can I see a holo of her sometime?" she quietly asked.
Her question reminded him of an idea he'd been toying around with for the last few days. "Do you want to see her now?"
"Sure!" Meruka stepped back and began looking for an available terminal while he grinned at her enthusiasm.
"No, not that way, I thought maybe we could…" Se'tak brought one hand up near her temple.
She furrowed her brow. "Maybe we could what?"
"Maybe we could do a mind meld?"
The words were no sooner out of his mouth then he regretted them for Meruka immediately backed away. "You want to get inside my head?"
Se'tak shrugged. "Well I thought maybe it'd be cool…it's a Vulcan thing, but it's ok if you don't want to do it, it's no big deal." He lied—mind-melding was a big deal, a very big deal, and he wanted to try it for the first time on a non-family member with her. He'd heard Sa-mekh talk often enough about how important mind melds were to bonding and relationships and, as much as it irked him to think it, it seemed logical to want to do this with Meruka. And besides, a quick meld wouldn't hurt.
She pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest, considering him from the opposite side of the aisle. "Is it painful?"
"Absolutely not," he quickly replied. In reality he had no idea what she might or might not feel.
"And if I tell you to stop you'll stop?"
He was mildly offended at that. Hadn't he told her and shown her over the last few days that he'd do anything she commanded? "Of course."
With those assurances Meruka reached for his wrist and brought his hand back up to the side of her head. "Ok then, let's do it."
He brushed back her hair as he looked at her skeptically. "Are you sure? You're not just saying that?"
She smiled. "I'm not just saying that. Now show me what Gaila looked like."
"Ok." He pushed more of her hair gently out of the way and had her lean back against the stacks for support. Closing his eyes, Se'tak took several deep, cleansing breaths, then took one last peek at Meruka before proceeding. She had her eyes closed too but also had a giant smile on her face, making him almost break his concentration and kiss before the meld. "My mind to your mind…"
The instant the connection was formed Se'tak was reminded of how truly undisciplined he was in the Vulcan arts. It was one thing to hear Sa-mekh say it over and over and over again and another to experience it first-hand by inadvertently sharing an embarrassing memory with a girl you really liked.
The memory started when he was around 2 or 3 years old.
It was only him and Mama in their quarters and she'd just given him a bath. He liked splashing around in the water and playing with all the toys, especially when he didn't have to share the tub with T'Alora. The fun ended all too soon for him, however, and Mama lifted him out and toweled him off. She managed to get a new diaper and a night shirt on before Uncle Jim comm'ed her with something important.
The next part of the memory was blurry—he didn't remember Mama setting him down on the living room floor, but that's where he started off from when he headed towards his parents' bedroom. Unfortunately what happened after he got to their room was all too clear.
He finally scaled the high chair in front of the three paneled mirror and had a good look at all of Mama's paints and crayons. He had no idea she liked to color as much as he did! He looked around for some paper so he could leave her a picture but couldn't find any…and then he saw the holo sitting on the corner of her table. It looked like Mama, only with longer hair, and she was standing in front of a bridge with her arm around a pretty green lady. The green lady had long, curly red hair and a red uniform just like the one Mama was wearing and they were both laughing so hard their eyes were wet.
Just then he saw some green paint and knew he had to paint a picture of the green lady for Mama. He unscrewed the cap and dumped the whole bottle right there in the middle of the table.
"You didn't!" Meruka cried, sending them both out of the meld and crashing back to reality.
His cheeks burned. "I did. I finger painted Gaila's entire portrait out of nail polish, mascara and a whole tube of lipstick before Mama found me." He initiated a quick, light meld, to show her the finished product—a crude approximation of Gaila on the vanity table complete with him covered in his mother's make-up—and ended it with Mama bursting through the door screaming in horror.
The images had Meruka laughing so hard she was crying. "Oh my gosh! Ha ha, I knew you were a trouble maker but that was…that was…ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Yeah, yeah, yuck it up…" Se'tak leaned up against her as she giggled and pressed quick kisses along her jaw line.
"Se'tak!" Even as she tried to protest she pulled him closer, pressing her bosom against his chest. "Se'tak stop it, it tickles!"
He grinned and kept on kissing. "All's fair in lo—"
"OH!"
He dropped Meruka like a brick and looked down the aisle to see Dimora and Tabitha staring at them—well, Dimora was staring, Tabby was looking intensely at the filmplasts on the nearby shelf, but both were turning bright red. For reasons he couldn't quite explain Se'tak felt guilty and immediately backed away from Meruka, practically creating enough space between them for the entire crew to pass through. In that same five second span Meruka went from looking at him quizzically, to checking out the girls, then staring back at him with what could best be described as an angry glower.
The expressions on all three of their faces only served to further increase his guilt and confusion.
He nodded in Tabby and Dimora's direction, trying to play it cool. "Hey."
"Hey."
Meruka coughed and glared at him some more, reminding him he needed to make introductions. "Dimora, Tabby, this is Meruka. She's with the group from Orion." Meruka rolled her eyes at the obvious and Dimora tried to stifle a giggle while Tabitha turned even redder. "Meruka, these are my friends Tabitha McCoy and Dimora Sulu."
"Hi."
"Hi."
Tabby only nodded while still avoiding everyone's gaze.
"Right, well—" Se'tak reached for his filmplasts and PADDS then for Meruka's wrist. She ignored it. "We should get going."
Meruka looked back at the other girls and smiled. "It was nice meeting you."
"You too," Dimora replied.
Now totally mortified, he managed to slink out of the library with Meruka behind him and the girls lingering among the stacks. Once they cleared the doors he took a second to lean against the wall and breathe but the peace was quickly broken.
"What the heck was that?!"
"What the heck was what?"
"Oh like you don't know!" She stood with her hands on her hips now, and her lips were pursed so tight they almost disappeared. Even scarier was the thought that in this moment she resembled his mother almost to a T.
Se'tak took another breath but his gaze on her never wavered. "Meruka, I really don't know what you're talking about."
"Then why were you so uncomfortable?"
There it was again, that accusatory tone, and it came straight out of left field. "Just what exactly do you think is going on here?"
"Answer my question first."
He was at the end of his patience. "Why was I uncomfortable?! Because they found us kissing, that's why! I've known Tabby and Dimora since we were in diapers and it was awkward for me having them see me like that! Ok now? You happy?"
Instead of a reply Meruka turned up her nose and left.
Thoroughly frustrated he proceeded to bang the back of his head up against the wall wondering just what in the hell had happened.
2011 hours. The whole situation was still irking him hours later, like a popcorn kernel stuck between two back teeth, and no matter what he tried he couldn't quite get it out of his system and it was annoying him to death. After dinner he tried to get some homework done but he just couldn't put the events of the afternoon out of his mind.
So Se'tak did what he always did when he was upset about something—he went for a walk.
He wandered off toward the rec rooms first to check out what was going on. The most exciting thing there was a karaoke sing-off in the main room but it didn't hold his interest for long so he left. Next Se'tak tried the shuttle bay, but with the Enterprise traveling at warp there were no flights scheduled so things were pretty quiet there too. He went to the botanical gardens after that, and as he meandered along the narrow pathways he felt himself calm down to the point where he could think about Meruka and not get angry over the day's earlier confusing events.
Heading home he was completely relaxed, ready to tackle the essay before another Banshee Raiders session, but as he rounded the corner near his family's quarters he saw a familiar figure leaning up against the wall.
Meruka's smile was shy and her gaze didn't quite meet his eyes. "Hi." He nodded and kept moving for the door. "Se'tak, wait."
He stopped and folded his arms across his chest, waiting. He figured the less he talked the more likely he was to learn what exactly he'd done to upset her in the first place.
"I got a vibe earlier and I thought…I thought maybe you weren't being completely honest with me."
Nope, no such luck, zero clarification. "Huh?"
"It's all the pheromones and hormones," she said in a rush. "And between the scent and the body language I thought maybe you and one of those girls had…"
Se'tak threw his hands up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" he cried. "You think me and Dimora…? Or me and Tabby…? That's crazy!"
She stepped away from the wall and out into the middle of the floor. "They're pretty girls, Se'tak, it's not that far-fetched."
"Yeah, they are pretty," he conceded, "But they're my friends." Meruka still didn't look like she was buying what he was saying so he asked, "Don't you have any guy friends on Orion who you just hang out with and stuff?"
She screwed up her face. "Puh-lease! I had friends like that when I was little but why would I waste my time with them like that now when there's so much more FUN to be had?"
Se'tak casually leaned against the wall still examining her closely and discovered she was actually being serious. "Our cultures are VERY different, yours and mine."
"Tell me about it." Meruka leaned up against him and blew the hair out of her eyes. "I'm sorry I got mad at you, I just don't like stepping on another woman's territory, you know? It's not very Orion of me but that's just how I feel."
"I get it, but trust me, there's nothing going on. See me? No prior claim here."
"Ok." She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"For being you. And because I have to get back to my room now."
"Ah."
"Good night!"
"Night." He watched her sashay down the hall until she rounded the bend, the stupid grin never leaving his face, all bad memories of the afternoon now completely erased.
There was a lesson in there, a very valuable one, and one that Se'tak wouldn't come to fully appreciate for a few more years; he could love women of all types, shapes, sizes and colors until the end of his days, but he would NEVER, EVER, understand them no matter how hard he tried.