Open Doors

Posted on Nov 15, 2016 @ 2:18am by Lieutenant Commander Aerdan Jos
Edited on on Nov 15, 2016 @ 2:18am

Mission: Aftermath

"Open Doors" (Continued from "Love Letters")

Location: San Fransisco, EARTH
Stardate: 2.161114.2035
Scene: Donut Worry Pastry and Java Shop
Time index: 2 days after the end of "The Purge"

~*~
"If opportunity doesn't knock; build a door."
~Milton Berle
~*~

They won.

Aerdan Jos supposed he should feel exhilarated; he should be celebrating and drinking champagne, living it up or traveling the world. Instead he was sipping lukewarm coffee in the back of an all night coffee shop.

Well, at least the ambience was nice and the jazz band they had playing on stage was decent. It could be worse.

Still, he was trying to rouse in himself that joyous exuberance of victory, yet he was only coming up with a steady feeling that he was drained. Numb in a fuzzy sort of drunk way - rather than a soul-crushing depression sort of way. It was almost pleasant.

He was well aware that the lives of those around him were rollercoasters of triumph and tragedy. Aerdan on the other hand more often than not was a far more boring and linear sort of soul. At least he imagined himself more boring. His life was a series of mild bumps, mostly due to his carefully controlled introversion and stubborn self control. He didn't regret the decisions he made and he usually focused on what he thought was right with bitter determination. He protected those he valued - what few made it past his stuff shields - and somehow came through the other end alive.

For someone that Cade Foster had dubbed a 'self-sacrificing nutbrain' Aerdan figured he had done pretty well to live through everything he had experienced.

He leaned back, draining the tepid coffee and pondered another cup. Coffee was not his favorite, but there was something about the heady bitterness that seemed to meld with the jazz music and smell of pastries. It was so perfectly Terran... and he liked feeling lost in an alien culture.

"Cade said I'd find you here." a familiar voice lilted out from the shadows.

Maybe not so lost in an alien culture...

Aerdan turned, letting his ice blue eyes lock on a familiar form. A lithe trill in short sleeved civilian garb sauntered out from the shadows. Doctor Zabrielle Liden. A noted xeno-pharmacologist, absolutely brilliant scientist, former Starfleet officer, former lover of Cade Foster and the sometimes on-again-off-again girlfriend of one Aerdan Jos. The more he thought about it the more he wondered why his life hadn't been more tempestuous. To be fair she had hit him twice. Well, only once with feeling. The second was more of a love tap.

This time they had parted on good terms. Aerdan has begged her to run, to hide herself away to avoid the rash of assassinations that had followed the crew of the Phoenix around like a plague. They wanted to destroy those who would oppose them and the cruel minds behind Edgerton's vicious movement decided that killing of friends, loved ones and family members was a great way to demoralize those who would stand against them. It was true - and effective - and Aerdan Jos would be damned if he saw his own family come to harm.

Shockingly enough, for once, Zabrielle had listened.

He wasn't overly surprised to see her show up once Edgerton's corpse had rag-dolled on the ground, either. She always did have good timing.

"So you saw him?" the Andorian queried gently.

"Yep." She nodded. "He was hauling away that unstable wingboy of yours." She gave a low whistle. "You'll have to tell me the full story on that one sometime."

"It's... a ... long one..." He trailed off.

"I figured. The last time I saw him he was dead."

Strange, but true. Aerdan would love to say it was the strangest thing he had ever encountered in his travels through the galaxy wearing a Starfleet uniform. It wasn't.

"So..." An awkward pause. "Want anything to drink?" His antennae twitched downwards wishing he had a better way to frame that.

Zabrielle laughed. "I do! Just not from a coffee shop!"

And just like that the tension disappeared.

"I suppose you already have a bar in mind?" he queried gently.

"I do!"

Aerdan waved a hand in front of him. "Then lead on."

She grinned like a schoolgirl, seizing his hand and leading him out into the darkened streets of San Fransisco. The night was cool and damp. Not so cold as to prompt a shiver - especially from the Andorian - but just cool enough that when the breeze combined with the copious amounts of caffeine Dr. Jos drank he felt an electric tingle go down his spine. It felt good. Like the fireworks one was supposed to feel after achieving victory.

"You know who I saw yesterday?" Zabrielle plowed boldly forward with an utter lack of social fear.

Aerdan shook his head. "You seem to know everyone, I couldn't begin to guess..."

"Dr Crumby!" She grinned. "He was getting a massage. I guess the stress of Edgerton's regime really got to him."

"Crumby's a Horta!" Aerdan protested, not knowing whether she was being serious or just pulling his leg. "How does a Horta get over-stressed?"

Zabrielle was grinning, a playful expression that flickered across her features like a dance. And yet when she spoke she sounded oh-so serious. "They are intelligent creatures, Dr. Jos. And any sort of intelligent creature can fall victim to extreme stress."

"Ok." He started, unconvinced. "Then tell me how does a Horta get a massage?"

"Well, the respond very well to rubbing hot stones over the hamburger-like nodules on their back. It's similar to the environment they were born into." Her dark eyes glittered.

"I think you're full of shit." he tossed back.

"I do have brown eyes!" She called back, jumping up a few stairs to a bar marked with cursive words in a neon glow proclaiming it 'The Fish Tank.' "But I'm also an expert at massage."

"You are not." Oh, Aerdan, how much he did not realize he was being set up.

"I am!" She grinned.

"Prove it." he tossed back in the exact same tone he was so used to challenging Cade with.

Zabrielle offered a widening smile as she leaned in close and touched the tip of his nose in a gentle gesture of fondness before whispering. "I can and I will..."

Aerdan immediately flushed a curious tone of navy realizing that, yes, he had walked right into that one. "I uh... I could use a drink first."

"That's why we're at a bar..."

He blinked. Oh yes. "You thought of everything, didn't you?"

"The lengths I go to for your uptight ass..." She offered a light bell-like laugh.

"Hey, I just helped save the universe, give me a little credit!" He protested with a smile.

"I am... that's why we're here." Zabrielle winked.

Aerdan laughed. It was a sound of relief, that humor which had been bottled up during the last long battles. As he drew in a breath it really stuck home: he was alive. They had won.

He didn't know where he was going, but it didn't matter so much anymore. Home was next on the itinerary, and after that - who knew? But he still had friends and family to hold on to - and that as enough. He stepped forward and opened the door for the lady. "After you."

"Why thank you!"

He followed her in, letting his antennae adjust to the dark and smoky interior as the door slowly shut behind them. "How did Crumby get his doctorate in the first place?"

"I hear he's a very good listener..."

The door on one story closed, with pages of a new one ready to be opened.

~*~

Jamie LeBlanc
Lt Commander Aerdan Jos
Often a doctor
Currently Unassigned

"Why do we fly? Because we have dreamt of it for so long that we must"