Seeing Her Again

Posted on Sat Aug 27th, 2016 @ 6:35pm by Lieutenant JG Élan Val & Lieutenant Commander Daniel Divaro

1,406 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Into the Raptor's Shadow
Location: Lounge
Timeline: Current - TBD

ON:

It had been a long day in engineering. Long and boring. But Daniel supposed boring was better than having things go wrong. He knew what was wrong--he hadn't seen her in a long time--over a month, in fact. She had said she needed time to absorb what he had told her prior to their arrival at Starbase 171. He had met with her here in the lounge and told her about Velah and Sassi and he wished he could have told her earlier, but he had only learned it the night before himself. She had stormed out and left him sitting there, then, later had asked for time and space apart which he had granted her. Had it been hard? Damned right it had. They had just started what had seemed to be a promising relationship and he had missed her terribly. There had been times he had heard her on the ship's comm system and had even seen her a few times in passing--but he had always kept his distance out of respect to her wishes.

Now he was back in the lounge where it had all began those weeks ago. They had first met in this lounge. He had flirted with her and she in turn had reciprocated, even to the point of kissing him once before leaving to go back on shift. After the end of shift, they had later met in the arboretum where they lay on the grass and talked. Each had learned some of the others' likes and dislikes and he had done his best to comfort her due to her accident in the science lab earlier. And they had shared a few kisses as well between bouts of conversation.

He heard the swoosh as the doors to the lounge opened and instinctively looked up to see who had entered. It was HER! And as he watched her walk in, he found himself hoping that she would decide to join him...

Élan had finished another slow day in the science labs and signed off duty, hopefully for the rest of the day. There had been a few evenings in which a few of the younger and inexperienced crewmen had called for an officer to be present because of what they had thought to be a new discovery, only for the anomaly to end up being something already in the ship’s records. Twice they had caught a Romulan ship decloaking and naturally that had sent them into a panic, but fortunately those incidents had passed without a ship-wide red alert being called. Élan had settled into her new position somewhat and it seemed that the rest of the department was as well. She only wished that the rest of the mission would be as easy.

She had intended to meet with Miko in the lounge for a quiet drink. Much to both of their surprise, she and Élan had become friends since calling a truce to their brief yet very hostile feud. Both of them were workaholics in separate departments, so one of them usually had to drag the other away from whatever it was they were working on to take a break. This time, Miko had apparently been ordered to take a break and had called Élan. Élan had simply been closer and had arrived earlier. As she stepped into the lounge, Élan instantly glanced towards their usual table near the large window. Seeing that it, along with most of the other tables, was taken, she quickly claimed one of the booths next to the door and sat down.

Daniel watched her as she scanned the room then took a table near the door--dashing his hopes that she would join him. Maybe she hadn't seen him. At least that was what he hoped, anyway. After a moment, he gathered his courage, then stood up and walked over to her table. "Hello, Elan'..." he said quietly.

“Hello, Daniel,” Élan said as she looked up at him. She hadn’t been avoiding him since she had stormed out on him, but she had been extremely busy. That was even truer now that she was in charge of the largest department on the Hyperion.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked, indicating the seat across the table from her. "I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes if you don't mind."

“I have a few minutes,” Élan said as she waved to the empty chair across the table from her.

Daniel took the seat opposite of Elan' and looked at her for a long moment, unsure of what he should say. His first impulse was to reach across the table and take her hand in his, but he resisted the urge and simply said "I've missed you..."

“Daniel, stop,” Élan said, raising her hand slightly. “I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I know that I should have talked to you before but I seriously needed some time to think over this and consider everything. I think we should remain friends for now.”

Daniel felt like his heart was in the pit of his stomach as he heard the word that a man would hate to hear from a woman he was interested in--'friends'. "So that's the way it is? We're over before we've even begun?" This was most definitely NOT going the way he had hoped.

“I don’t think that a serious and committed relationship is right for either one of us right now. At least, I know that I’m not ready for one right now. Perhaps in the future, but right now I feel that my attention is being pulled towards my career and my work. I also think that we shouldn’t just rush into a relationship. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to let things take their own course,” Élan said solemnly.

Daniel looked away quickly. He didn't want her to see the sadness in his expression. He figured this to be difficult enough for her and he certainly didn't want to make any more than it had to be. He'd honestly thought they had something special, but it takes two to make a relationship and obviously she was no longer interested. When he WAS finally able to look at her, he managed to keep his emotions in check and only showed resignation in his expression. 'That which cannot be changed must be endured...' he thought to himself. Even if there was no place for him in her life, he knew that, even though he had only known her for a short time, that there would always be a place for her in his heart.

“I’m sorry, Daniel. Truly, I don’t know what else to say,” Élan said after realizing that he probably couldn’t say anything. She understood completely, she had been at a loss of words for a long time.

"I guess there's nothing either of us CAN say..." Divaro answered slowly. "I really thought we had something--especially after our last conversation in your quarters. I asked you then if that was goodbye for good and you said 'I didn't say that'." He fell silent for a long moment before looking her directly in the eyes, several different emotions evident in his expression. "Well, I guess now that IS what you're saying..."

“As far as us being in a relationship, for now, yes, I’m afraid that is what I’m saying. Perhaps in the future we can get back together, but the future is never set and I won’t make any promises that I may not be able to keep,” Élan said softly.

Feeling as if he'd been punched in the stomach, Daniel stood slowly. He looked down at her for a long moment, not trusting his voice at first. Finally, he drew a long breath before speaking quietly. When he did speak, he said the only thing he felt that he could before turning and walking out of the lounge.

"Goodbye, Elan'..."

Élan silently watched as Daniel left the lounge. She couldn’t think of anything further to say, and she didn’t want to do or say anything that would draw the agony out any more. She sat in the lounge for a few more minutes before she finally stood and silently walked to the doors herself.


LtCommander Daniel Divaro
Chief Engineer
USS Hyperion

Lieutenant Élan Val
Chief Science Officer

 

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