Illumination - JL - aCapt Rhodes/LtCmdr Rinehart

Posted on 241407.20 @ 4:49pm by Commander Tierney Rinehart & Acting Captain Mark Rhodes

Thud thump. Thud thump. Thud thump.

The sound of Tierney’s heart drowned out all others as it settled as a lump in her throat. It was over, but it had taken far longer than she’d expected to be gone. She’d told him, Mark – the Captain of the starship Enterprise – twelve hours. It had taken over twenty-seven. Twenty-seven long hours that left her knowing her return would be one where the atmosphere was highly charged against her favor. There’d be talk that she’d taken off, defected, and given them up. In truth… It had taken her the extra time to find and dispose of the tracking device the Ferengi had installed on the Talarian freighter that now sat cloaked just off the portside of the massive Enterprise.

She hadn’t hailed them, hadn’t announced her return, hadn’t risked the retribution and potentially giving them a reason to blow the vessel from the stars. Instead she’d ordered the crew, her crew, to wait for her word and used her bypass codes and other intel sorcery to beam aboard the war ship without notice. This far away from everything and everyone gave them no reason for their shields to be elevated – the act itself was simple.

Her intended target, the Captain’s quarters, were quickest, easiest and likely safest at that late hour. He’d be in his ready room, working, likely pacing.

Tierney blew a heavy, tired sigh as the whine of the transporter beam disappeared in the obfuscating silence and she was left alone to her thoughts and the sound of her own heart in the darkness. Her spots shone, shimmering beautifully as she moved, but hardly bright enough to illuminate anything else. Each one twinkled a soft shade of white or blue, dotting her skin in unknown constellations and sky charts yet to be defined. The living room became her stronghold as she crossed the floor, moving around the furniture with surprising ease – each footfall resonated off the décor, creating a picture in her head. Even without using her own clicks, she had mastered the art of using what she had available in order to succeed in life, especially that magnificent ability of echolocation that her semi-aquatic ancestors had developed.

She was exhausted. Damn near broken as she allowed her body to fall onto the plush comfort of the man’s couch. “Just a minute…” She whispered to herself, fighting to stay awake. The idea was to rest her weary body for a moment longer before heading to her own quarters in order to be sure that no nasty surprises awaited her there. In the morning she’d contact the Captain, let him know what had happened, let him know she was still faithful and alive. Her plan, however, was foiled the second her eyes fluttered shut and her nose burrowed into the warm arm of the couch. A mistake brought on by nearly forty-eight sleepless hours. A mistake that would bring her secrets thundering onto the scene and strip them bare for the man to see when he arrived home.

Acting Captain Mark Rhodes had been in his ready room overlooking the reports that had been coming in and waiting for the Chief Intel Officer to get back from her supply run. She was suppose to be back hours ago, and Mark was slightly worried. Hours ticked idly past with no word from the bridge that she had gotten back, and at half past one Mark decided to head for his quarters and catch a few hours of sleep before seeking her out in the morning.

Sleepily getting off of the turbolift he rounded the corridor and let himself into his quarters. He rubbed his eyes as the door began to hiss shut, and mumbled an order for that kept the lights off. After all, he knew his way around his quarters and didn't need light to get to bed. Taking a step into his living room the doors closed behind him leaving him in darkness... or so he expected.

Pausing he noticed an odd twinkling around his couch, the faintest spangling of starlight. He found the situation fishy and opened up the top drawer of a table to the left of the door. Inside was a hand phaser which he drew into the darkness and took a few trepidation filled steps forward into his living room and found the source of the glow, a humanoid outline laid out glowing on his couch. Mark quickly readied the phaser and called out "Lights."

As the lights came up, the glow was drowned out leaving the figure of Tierney Rinehart stirring. He stood there with his phaser drawn shocked and somewhat confused.

"Goodmorning?" he greeting with a raised eyebrow, lowering the phaser.

The sound of a voice tugged the young woman from the deepest recesses of her unconscious mind, away from the sleep she so desperately needed. Trouble had a certain feel, a certain scent -- R.E.M be damned, she was rising from those unfathomable depths fast and hard until her eyes finally opened. She trembled as her nerves tried to follow the quick snap of consciousness, trying to provide power for her to move quickly out of harm's way if she needed to.

The bleariness of her eyes made out the sight of the phaser and her heart immediately picked up a much quicker pace as ice cold field plunged into her veins, forcing her nerves to react, forcing them to re-calibrate as she sat up quickly, her heavy boot clad feet swinging to the floor with a thud. "I..." She couldn't even form the words as she watched him lower the phaser, and noticed the lights on high. There had been darkness when she'd arrived, darkness when she lay down... Darkness and the shimmer of her skin. Her breath caught, he knew. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she brushed hair from her face, "I'm sorry, I decided this was the safest route to home and never made it home." She tried.

Mark dropped the phaser into his armchair and sat down next to Tierney, pulling her tiny form onto his side and put his arm around her. "So now you are moving into my quarters?"

"No," She shook her head slightly as she let him pull her closer. Her legs once more curled up and under herself, "Go to sleep. Pretend I wasn't here."

"Not sure I can do that," he said feeling her warmth cuddle up next to him. "And besides, I don't sleep on my couch. How did you even get in here?"

"Sure you can." Her sleepy voice responded as she lay her head on his shoulder. "Then pick yourself up and go to your bed, I'll go to mine and we'll forget all about this." Tierney all but hummed as she nosed into his collarbone fighting the heaviness of her eyelids. "I have my secrets and my ways. Intel, 'member?" He smelled of soap and warmth, of strength and something strange, fresh cut wood? Musk? She couldn't identify it beyond labeling it simply as 'him'.

"Or... I could do this," Said Mark, standing up carefully. He leaned down and tenderly gathered Tierney in his arms, cradling her in a fireman's carry. "I have engineering tool kits that weigh more then you do," he said with a warm smile looking down at the women he now carried.

She didn't wiggle, or fuss in spite of her surprise at suddenly being hoisted up and stripped of control. Being hoisted up into someone's arms was a uniquely foreign feeling. Immediately she looped her arms around his neck to help keep herself from falling, though the possibility was slim to none. "You could and you did." She replied, letting him carry her to his bed.

Mark walked into his bedroom and put her down on the bed, then crossed to the other side of the bed and crawled in to cuddle up. He wasn't there to take advantage, to push the bounds of what had only just begun -- but to hold, to embrace, to protect. "If we stayed on the couch, I would have wrenched my back. Then I would have to had drug my sorry behind into Sickbay and come up with some excuse as to what happened. Lights." He called out to turn the lights off. Now he lay there next to the softly glowing figure of Tierney.

That was where the warning sirens went off in her mind. Not at the intimate nearness of him, not by the fact they shared his most sacred space, but the fact that the lights quickly went from there to total darkness. Tierney didn't have a hope or chance of hiding herself. Instead her heart began to gallop in her chest, wildly out of control as sheer panic gripped her very core. Each freckle took on it's iridescent light, shining softly and dutifully. "I'm sorry." She was quick to apologize for herself in the dark, cringing as she began trying to back pedal from the softness of his bed.

"You're fine," said Mark relaxing a bit in his own comfortable bed trying to pull her back gently. "Shhh." He was interested by the prospect of why his Chief Intel Officer was glowing, there must be a legitimate reasoning for it, but the why eluded him as scientific theories tinkered through his weary mind. "Can I ask how?" he murmured quietly in the darkness as he brought her close.

"No no I should... Fine?" Tierney paused in her escape attempt, realizing there was no yelling no upset, no attack to be found like there had been so many times before. Instead he soothed her, tugged her gently back to him, and she allowed him to against all odds and every safeguard she'd ever created for herself. The young woman drew a deep breath and released her shivers in a sigh before swallowing hard. It was entirely possible, she thought, that he was tired enough to think he was dreaming.

"Genetics." She replied, her sense of comfort carefully peeking out and trying to make it's return as he pulled her body flush with his in the dark. Her hands settled against his chest, resting there to be used as leverage if she needed to shove away should his demeanor, so soft and welcoming, change. Her fingers, however, fanned out over the well built expanse of it, allowing herself to explore high to the feel of his shoulders, the contours of his clavicles. Damn him for being the tempered soul, the good man, the free spirit.

He felt her hands move as he started to slowly drifted off to sleep. "Interesting," he said as he nuzzled in close to her feeling her warmth and feeling hear heart beat. "Its simply beautiful," he said resting his arm around her waist. "I am glad you came home..."

That moment in time paused, holding them captive in it's gentle grip as the man admitted to the beauty of the halfling's differences, enraptured with the glow her body produced. There was nothing Tierney could say, nothing she could have done other than listen and allow the sound of such words to reverberate across her skin as he nosed ever closer and spoke them against her neck. "I told you I would," she chose to comment instead, letting her cheek press to his, her lips scant centimeters from his ear as she whispered, nearly breathless, in the dark.

What remained unsaid, and scored her heart with a sense of doubt and pang of guilt, were her orders direct from Starfleet. "I always will, one way or another." He'd never know. Couldn't know. Would her secrets be their undoing? Would it be safer to pull the plug and leave him left wanting? There in that moment of quietude, Tierney accepted fate for what it was and chose to live in there in the now where it was warm and safe... Where she was held tenderly by a man who trusted her enough to surrender to the binds of sleep. She knew then that he would be her ultimate undoing as she felt herself heart falling for him.

"I'm sleepy," said Mark quietly. "Don't let me fall asleep on you," whispered Mark as he felt sleep slowly tug him under. He didn't want to fall asleep while talking to her, it was rude, but sleep was winning this fight and his breathing began to deepen.

"Shhh" she hushed him, letting her hands relax and trace lazy circles along his chest. "Sleep." Tierney soothed, moving to rest her own head on a pillow and allowing her body to relax against the mattress they shared, against his body.

"I..." he tried to start attempting to fight off the sleep that is pulling him under. He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep with Tierney snuggled up close, happy.

Someday she'd ask him what he meant to say after his voice tumbled into the voids of the sandman's grip, she wondered if he'd even remember. The starchild lay there in silence as seconds ticked away and the soft sounds of his sleeping joined the sound of her quietly beating heart there in the darkness. Hesitant fingers moved to brush over the errant locks of hair that clung to his brow, pushing them away, smoothing them back and Tierney moved forward to press a feather soft kiss to the skin her fingers had traveled mere fractions of a second before. Sleep sighed at her, blowing more dust into her nearly too large eyes and, unknowing of the magic being woven, she finally succumbed to the slumber that beckoned her into it's grasp.

To the future... To fortune favoring the bold.

---

Captain Mark Rhodes
Commanding Officer
USS ENTERPRISE

Lieutenant Commander Tierney Rinehart
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS ENTERPRISE