Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Alpha Quadrant- Sonatas and Serendipity

Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Alpha Quadrant- Sonatas and Serendipity

Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Alpha Quadrant- Sonatas and Serendipity

OOC: This series starts here: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/stf1/asimov/posts/141647/

(snip)

“You working tonight?” Edward asked.

For a moment she didn’t know how to reply. But against her better judgement (or in spite of it), she nodded. “Yeah. Tank’s tonight. Good tips,” she said, smirking at him.

“You earn it.”

Coast snorted and moved off. “Bye, Freighter Boy.”

“See you later, Coast.”

She moved off a few steps and then turned, staring at him hard. Her expression softened. “It’s Shara. Shara Costa.” And with that she left, leaving Edward sitting there with a wide grin, thinking to himself that he was going to marry that girl. He didn’t know why he felt so certain about it, but he just did. And that was enough for him.

Tanks’s was busy that night, and as Edward wove his way through the crowd towards the bar he had to avoid being jostled and elbowed by various people. He couldn’t see Coast… no, Shara, but knew she must be around. Even the thought of her telling him her name made him smile. It was like he had crossed some special threshold not everyone got to touch. He didn’t think it made him special but it did make him different, and from all the vibes that woman gave off, well, different seemed to be a good thing.

Finally managing to make it to a corner, he smiled. “Quinn!” he called over the din, and the petite blond turned. They looked him over and shook their head. “Just can’t take no for an answer, can you?”

“Shara’s said she’s working tonight,” he said, knowing that the small detail of her name would change the game.

Quinn drew closer. “She’s on a very short break, but it’s crazy today as you can tell. Look, she told me to tell you to go to her place. Apartment 201. If you’re okay waiting till she’s off. Tank will probably keep her late though, so don’t expect her before 1 o’clock.”

“I’ll manage. Thanks Quinn,” he said sincerely.

Quinn seemed to study him for a long moment before they spoke again. “Look, I know I’ve been protective, but I was honest that first night. She’s had a hard time, Edward. Be gentle with her. She’s not so good at letting people in, but she’s the real deal you know? The kind of person you can depend on.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I was coming to the same sort of conclusion. I love that you care about her so much, look out for her. I’m not trying to do anything right now but make her smile if I can. She looks like she could use a reason to.”

Quinn shook their head. “You two are made for each other. Hopeless romantics, the both of you. Go, get! We gotta work here.”

“Night Quinn,” he said, making his way back out.

At quarter to one in the morning, Edward wandered up to Shara’s building. At first he thought about ringing up right away, but he decided to give her a chance and wait. Sitting on a ledge alongside the front walkway, Edward pulled out his book of poetry from his bag, setting the flowers down beside him gently. There hadn’t been a lot open but he’d managed to find a little shop that had a cooler that sold flowers and he grabbed the least sad looking bunch.

It was five after the hour when Shara turned up to the building, slowing as she approached Edward with her satchel from earlier on her shoulder and each arm carrying a bag. “You came,” she said softly.

“Of course,” Edward said, closing the book. He picked up the bouquet and offered it to her. “And I come bearing some unfortunate looking flowers, I hope you’ll forgive me. There wasn’t much open.”

“Trade you,” she said, holding out an arm. Edward grabbed one of the bags, allowing Shara to take the flowers. Her hands slipped around the paper and despite the fact that the flowers probably wouldn’t last more than another day or two, she smiled. “No one’s ever brought me flowers before.”

“It felt wrong to come empty handed,” he said. “I wanted to say ‘Pretty flowers for a pretty girl’, but that might have been insulting given what I was able to dig up.”

Shara laughed and gestured with her head. “Come on, let’s go in.”

Tapping a card against a reader, the door unlocked and she led him into a very basic, almost utilitarian building that while not run down by any stretch of the imagination still looked like it had seen better days.

Taking the one flight of stairs, rather than the lift, Shara led him to apartment 201.

“So it was busy when I popped into Tank’s. Your night go okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, but I barely had a chance to eat anything,” Shara said as she unlocked her door.

The studio apartment was a moderate size but certainly not huge. Immediately in front of the door was a bank of windows that overlooked the street. Ed thought it was nice that at least she wasn’t boxed in by another building. There was a bed to the left and kitchen on the wall to the right and in the middle a small sofa with a coffee table and a small desk in front of the windows. It hadn’t looked like Shara had done much in the way of decorating but he could see bits of her all over the place. It was in the framed sheet music on the wall (the only wall decor) and the slew of padds strewn all over the desk and the coffee table.

“You hungry? I’ve got to eat something which is why I brought all this stuff home,” she said as she set it on the kitchen counter. Pulling out a container she offered it to Edward with a gleam in her eyes. “Jalapeno poppers?”

For a moment he felt terrible. There was this gentle hopefulness in her voice and he hated to crush it. But he knew her just well enough at this point that dissembling would not be taken well. “I… don’t like spicy food. I ordered them for the table because everyone else liked them.”

“Oh,” Shara said quietly.

Edward took the container of poppers from her with a warm smile. “But I love that you were so thoughtful.”

Masking her embarrassment under a small smile, she gazed at Edward for a long moment. “Do you mind if I have a shower? I need to wash the bar off me.”

“Not at all. Do what you need to.”

“Okay. Make yourself comfortable. There are some glasses in the cupboard if you are thirsty.”

“Thanks.”

The pair gazed at each other for a moment before Shara simply turned and headed to the bathroom just off the kitchen. Edward moved around the small apartment, taking things in before he settled on the sofa. While ‘make yourself comfortable’ certainly didn’t mean ‘snoop through my stuff’, Edward couldn’t help but be curious about all the PADDs lying around. He stared at one for several long moments before lifting it up and turning it on. Biology homework. Edward smiled and set it down, reaching for another. Whoa! Eyes wide, he skimmed it as best he could but while he used math a lot in his work and studies, this was… something else. Hyperbolic geometry? Edward blinked and looked harder. He could follow some of it, but it was definitely far beyond anything he had dealt with. How the hell was Shara able to do all that and yet she hadn’t finished secondary school?

“Reading anything interesting?” Shara said, leaning against the bathroom door in a clean pair of pants and a plain t-shirt. She never took long to shower and Edward’s presence had made her not waste any time.

The PADD tumbled out of his hand onto the coffee table. “Uh, oh. I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have been snooping, I was just curious about all the PADDs and… uh…” Yeah there was no excuse. Nope, none. Warmth coloured his cheeks and Shara stared at him hard before the corners of her mouth crept upwards.

“You’re cute when you blush, you know that?” She said, moving over the couch. Picking up the PADD he had dropped, Shara skimmed it. “Ahh, yeah, just something I was messing with.”

Edward stared at her. It was like she had grown another head. “How? Why?”

Shara laughed and set the PADD down, moving to the kitchen. Rifling through the bags, she pulled out various food items and grabbed plates. “I’m really good at math. My brain sees patterns and I think it’s part of why I gravitate towards music too. Come fix a plate.”

Joining her, Edward was mystified. She was like layers upon layers of enigma and it was both enchanting and a little intimidating. Without knowing where the impulse came from, the next thing he knew his lips gently brushed her cheek.

Shara turned to gaze at him, astonished while her stomach flip flopped. He was different, she knew that, and yet, it was so hard. She wanted to let him in, she did, but she wasn’t sure she could risk it. And yet..

Setting her plate down, Shara turned to him, slipped her arms around him and kissed him fully, pulling Edward close. He eagerly held her tight to him as their lips explored each other, all the caution tossed out the window.

To be Continued…

~Ed & Shara