Hello again

Posted on Fri Mar 10th, 2023 @ 7:56pm by Lieutenant Lily Marlow & Lieutenant Commander Angus Murphy

Mission: A New Beginning
1533 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Lily felt she needed to make another visit to engineering, just to go see the warp core and hear its rhythmic sound. Also she hadn't been there since, well, since they had left Adna. And one other thing, she'd not seen Murphy in awhile. A stray thought came to her mind, a memory of when she first came onto the ship. She got a small bag with some fruit, deciding to make her way there. The doors to Engineering opened up, and Lily stepped inside.

Unlike the first time though, the engineers that were working, looked up and noticed who it was. "Long time no see Doctor." one of them quipped.

"Oh has it been that long? Looks like I can schedule you for your next appointed medical exam right now." Lily giving a teasing smile , and a serious expression in her eyes.

This made the ensign gulp slightly.

"Is Commander Murphy around?" Lily asked.

"In his office, m'am," the ensign replied, relieved perhaps that she wasn't there for the singular purpose of rounding up engineers for medical evals. He pointed the way for her, even thought she probably already knew.

In his office, Murphy was already standing when he answered the chime and the door slid open to reveal the familiar visage. "Oh, boy," he said flatly as though he might have been dreading whatever she was here to talk about, though truthfully he'd always enjoyed Lily's company so it was more a joking tone and he hoped that she had taken it that way.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this surprise visit?" he asked, already on his way to the replicator. "I was thinking of a Bajoran tea. Would you care to join me?" He hardly paused for answer before he ordered it anyway, "Deka tea, hot, two cups. Two jumja sticks."

Lily laughed at his remark first remark. Knowing it was meant in jest. "I would be delighted to join you in drinking some tea. And I was missing coming down here, been too long. Also, wanted to bring down these." holding up a small bag which had the fruit he liked. "Call me nostalgic." Lily taking a seat while he got the tea. "Though I will be er picking on that Ensign to get him to come to medical." giving a melodramatic evil chuckle and rubbing her hands together.

"As you well should," Murph said lightly as he pulled the newly manifested tray from the replicator and brought it over to the desk. "You remembered," he smirked, pulling an orange from her bag and plopped down into his chair. He immediately dug his thumbnails in to pull up a section of the colorful peel. The scent was immediately evident throughout the room and he held it up to his nose to inhale more deeply. "Perfection. Thank you." He motioned to the seat across from him.

Lily smiled, and also enjoying the scent of the fresh peeled orange. "You are welcome." She looked around his office and gave a sigh of contentment. "Been definitely way too long, since I've been. I miss this a lot." pulling out her own orange to nibble at it. "Oh and let me have your orange peel once you are done. I like to make candied orange peel out of it." giving a bit of a smile, and then concentrating on peeling her own orange.

"Candied? You can eat it?" Murphy sounded a bit surprised, as though she'd suggested candied carpet strips. He'd freed up about half the fruit from it's shell before he broke off the first wedge and popped it into his mouth and chewed slowly.

"Mmmhmnnn" Lily giving a nod. "Yup, its a simple process and you get the citrus taste plus sweetness of the peel. Very appealing to me." an impish twinkle in her eyes. She worked on peeling the whole orange to where it was just all one piece, the tip of her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth as Lily concentrated.

Murphy set aside the half-peeled orange and reached for the cup tea. He sipped, finding it far less flavorful or enjoyable now after the fruit. He quirked a brow as he set the cup aside again. "So this is just a social visit then Or the old adage about strangers bearing gifts something I should have heeded?"

"Oh this is purely a social call, no sneaky medical exam, just being here to get my brain settled. And bask in the ambiance of engineering." giving a grin. "And eating oranges." she picked up the tea and stirred it with the jumja stick before drinking some of it. She lowered it and ate a piece of her orange, and looked at Murphy.

Something came to Lily's mind and she seemed hesitant at first, then decided to broach the subject. "Murph, I had a weird dream, that you and I were stuck on some sort of ship or base or station and being held prisoner so to speak. We worked there, until you and I managed to escape after contacting the Majestic. It was an intense dream! We were friends though, which was a comfort in truth. I know maybe I should have kept my mouth shut but, I did want to talk to you about that. This was reminding me of that dream." motioning to herself and Murphy. "though we had to be really sneaky about meeting with each other"

Murphy gently tore the next wedge from the fruit and regarded Lily as she told the story. It was a lovely story and he smiled at the part about being friends and this reminding her of that. "I read in a story once that dreams are windows to other universes. Who knows. I haven't remembered a dream in... ages. "

He stopped cold. "Well that's not exactly true," he confessed, jaw tensing. "Since Adna, I can't shake the nightmares."

Lily paled when Murphy brought up the nightmares. "Oh dear, I had no idea.. hadn't thought of you having nightmares as well. I've been having some as well." she ripped her now peeled orange in half, squishing part of a section on accident, the juice dripping down her fingers. She looked down at the hand and then pulled off the squished part and ate that section. "Have you been able to talk to the counselor as to what happened? Or have you kept quiet, like-like I have." her voice going a bit low on the last of her remark. " I can't bring myself to talk to her, hard to explain what happened." she lifted her eyes towards Murph's.

You couldn't run diagnostic checks on people quite as easily as warp cores and inertial dampening systems, but Murphy still picked up on the signs. Maybe he recognized them from himself. He just regarded the orange in silence for a long moment as he peeled another wedge from the core. "I tried," he admitted with no shame as he looked up to meet her eyes. "It is hard to talk about and it hasn't really helped. And maybe I haven't been as honest with the counselor as I could have been." He wanted to say more, but paused, trying to figure out how to ask. "Do you.... you know... want to talk about it some time? As two people who might be able to relate?"

Lily slowly nodded her head, "I would like that very much. I just- didn't know how to ask you. You see I didn't want to bring up anything that would cause you distress. I am all for in my own way not causing any distress, however I am feeling like I am in distress and I suppose I feel more comfortable talking to you." she pulled another section of her orange and popped it into her mouth, chewing it while she gathered her thoughts. "I would like to talk about what happened, maybe where no one could hear what we speak of." she looked around Murph's office. "This could work but, someone invariably will come to get your advice on something. And definitely I don't want to go to medical. I do have my massage therapy room, so we can go there? Unless you have another place."

"We can try it there," Murph agreed with a small, casual shrug. "I didn't know you did massage therapy. I guess I haven't been paying attention too closely." He paused for just a beat before saying with a little reassuring smile, "Let's agree on a time. Before one of us reconsiders and backs out."

Lily nodded, "Okay hmmnn... This evening maybe." she looked at the time and also her schedule. "I am free, I have no other plans until we get underway to take our guests home. I can get out of your way, for now." Lily grinned cheekily. "After all, I seem to get into your hair too much."

Murphy gave a light shake of his head at the last comment about being in his hair, "You're fine, trust me. I'll let you know if you cross a line with me... and this evening is perfect. I'll see you then, Doc."