Posted by Mar. Captain Eleanor “Iron Lady” Carnegie (Recon Squadron CO/Pilot) in [Alt-Timeline] Date Night?

Posted by Mar. Captain Malcolm “Astro” Dawkins (Fighter Squadron CO/Pilot) in [Alt-Timeline] Date Night?

Posted by Mar. Captain Eleanor “Iron Lady” Carnegie (Recon Squadron CO/Pilot) in [Alt-Timeline] Date Night?
Posted by… suppressed (12) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
Malcolm looked for a moment a bit scoldingly at Eleanor. “Listen Ellie…” A warm smile crossed his face as he kissed her forehead. “… please don’t ever apologize to me, of all people, for showing honest human emotion. I meant what I said in that I can’t even imagine the emotions that coursed through you just now. Understand sweetheart…” There was a glow in his eyes as he said the term of endearment. “… if I would have just had the experience you did, I’d be on my knees in tears. Trust me… I know me and on something like that…” Dawkins snickered to himself softly. “… I’m just a big’ol softie.”

Eleanor smiled. “Thank you.” There was a joyous glow in her eyes. “You know… Ellie is the nickname my brothers have always given me… Just thought it was funny you called me the same.”

Drying Eleanor’s eyes the best he could, Malcolm stepped to her side, wrapped an arm back around her… his thumb once again finding a little spot of skin on her side, and the couple walked along the stadium’s main promenade. “So, I hear there’s a great burger joint behind the left field wall. There’s a patio for diners with a great view of the field. Wanna eat there and we can watch the warms up before heading to our seats?” As he asked the question, he gently slid his hand into Eleanor’s back pocket.

Malcolm

Eleanor leaned against Malcolm as they walked, enjoying the intimacy. “Look at you, you did your research, huh?” She teased. “I never really ate anywhere around here… there was always food at my parents box.” Carnegie said matter of factly. “God, I would love to get a burger. I never have here.” She smiled. Suddenly, her breath caught slightly and her smile turned into a smirk as she felt Malcolm’s hand slide into her back pocket. “You know… my mother used to say ‘look with your eyes and not with your hands’. But just because it’s you, I think I’ll make an exception.” She winked.

Eleanor

Malcolm gave a playful squeeze of Eleanor’s tush as they continued to walk. “Good…” He smiled, looking forward. “… as I had no intention of removing it. Smart woman though. I must say, I’m a fan of the… genes… or is it the other jeans.” The snicker was soft but the smile unmistakable. “So..” Malcolm quipped as they approached the burger joint over the left field wall. “… patio seating, stadium side… I would assume?” He glanced down, brown eyes shimmered in the afternoon sun as his hand shifted just a bit deeper in her pocket.

Malcolm

Eleanor groaned and rolled her eyes. “You know what, I think I’m not making that exception after all.” She said with a smirk. “Again… newbie on the crowd side here, just take me where you think seating is best.” She smiled. “You’re the expert here, Captain Astros. Even if your team is not playing at home.” The name had all to do with the game and nothing to do with his call sign.

Malcolm groaned softly and rolled his eyes before moving on. “Let’s grab that table over there.” Dawkins motioned to a table against the wall of the stadium and just to the inside of the pole. “That looks like a great spot.” He said as they moved toward the table into a bit more sunlight. Looking down into Eleanor’s eyes, he smiled wider. “You like?”

Her gaze was lost momentarily on his, as the contacts allowed her to see the small shades of color that the afternoon light produced in Malcolm’s eyes. “Wow…” The word escaped her lips before she could stop it. “Your eyes… I had never seen anything like them…”

Eleanor

Eleanor learned in that moment, black guys can… in fact… blush. Closing his eyes, Malcolm looked away as he felt like his face was on fire. “Trust me Ellie…” He said as he turned his gaze back to hers. “… I’ve been thinking the same thing of yours since the moment I first looked into them in the lounge.” Malcolm slipped his hands to Ellie’s waist and kissed her. A slow, sweet kiss that made him unable to not pull her closer.

It was her turn to blush. Looking down, she shook her head. But before Eleanor could say anything, Malcolm’s lips were on hers, in one of the sweetest kisses she had ever received. Leaning into the kiss, her arms pulled him as his arms pulled her. And even though it was not truly her hometown, but rather a computer rendering of it, Carnegie could not think of a fitter place.

After the kiss, Malcolm pulled out a chair for her and waved the waiter over. “Cheese… or no cheese?” He asked beaming as he settled in his chair.

Malcolm

Sitting down, Eleanor smiled. Her gaze still very much on his as if she was awaking from a dream. “With everything I can put on it.”

Eleanor

Malcolm would have normally chuckled at her comment but he was currently so enraptured by the woman across from him, the waiter (whom Malcolm had summoned) had to clear his throat twice to get his attention. “Oh…” Malcolm said as he snapped back to the here and now, his hand already finding Ellie’s thigh under the table. “… um, two cheeseburgers with everything and two sweet teas.”

Eleanor smiled softly as she watched Malcolm order. She didn’t know what it was about him, but even when he performed the simplest tasks, like ordering food, Eleanor found him simply fascinating.

The waiter raised an eyebrow and then said. “I’m sorry, we only have bottle tea It is served ice cold though.” It was Malcolm’s turn for momentary confusion before he chuckled. “Ah yes, but the north don’t know sweet tea. That’s fine.” As the waiter walked away, Malcolm gave Ellie’s thigh a little squeeze. “I’m pretty fond of the sweet I already got though.” He winked as he leaned over and kissed Ellie just below the ear.

Malcolm

“Hey, we drink iced tea… and pop mostly.” Eleanor said playfully, biting her lip unconsciously as she felt Malcolm’s fingers dig into her thigh. She blushed slightly at his comment before a small gasp escaped her lips as his lips landed on her skin. She smiled shyly and looked over the field as an excuse to move her face away. She felt her cheeks burning. “I’m wondering whether I shouldn’t have asked one of my brothers for the list of hidden corners of this stadium… They seemed to know them pretty well… I’m sure we could put them to good use…”

Eleanor

Catching the waiter returning out of the corner of his eye, Malcolm knew he had only a few moments before dinner and wanted to make damn sure Ellie spent the entire meal wanting more. He brought his lips to Ellie’s ear, kissing it softly and then whispered directly into it in a seductive tone. “Now don’t be talkin’ up thing’s ya ain’t ready to back up.” He growled playfully. “Cause believe when I say… I would love to drive you crazy all over this building.”

There was nothing soft about the expression Eleanor gave him. There was only hunger and want. The sweet smooth syllables of his Southern drawl making it even worse. As her eyes looked into his, and she saw him sit upright and smile at the waiter, Eleanor exhaled slowly. The night… she wasn’t sure what the night was going to become, but she was sure she didn’t want it to be over.

With that, Malcolm sat upright and smiled at the waiter. The smell of the burgers wafted on the light breeze several feet in front of him as he arrived. “Your burgers sir.” The waiter smiled, setting the baskets with fries down. “And two Turner’s teas. It’s a favorite around here. If you need anything else, just let me know. My name’s Tommy.”

As Malcolm opened the bottle, he raised it to Ellie. “When in Rome.” He said with a flashed smile. He gave one last teasing pass of his fingertips along the inner seam of Ellie’s jeans about half way between the bottom of her zipper and her knee before returning both hands to the table.

Eleanor nodded in acknowledgment, her gaze never leaving him. And as his fingertips made their last pass across her jeans, another gasp escaped her lips into the cooling afternoon air. Eleanor would never have thought that it would be in her beloved Park, wearing a Pirates jersey and ball cap, and eating a burger, that she would finally forget Will, the guy who had gone to great lengths to take her to the most lavish dates she could ever imagine. And yet, there she was, sitting across from a handsome fighter pilot, a simple Southern guy, supporting the opposing team. And never again did he cross her mind.

“Well…” He winked innocently. “… dig in hun.”

Malcolm

Eleanor smiled. “Oh I will.” She said with a wink as she grabbed the burger with both hands and took a bite from it. “God.” Her eyes widened at Malcolm in both surprise and joy. “This is so much better than anything in that box! How did you even want to watch the game from it?” She chuckled. “I can’t believe it I never came up here!”

There was something there… something in that damn adorable wink… that made Malcolm question just exactly what the auburn-haired beauty planned to ‘dig in’ too. A boy could hope, right!? “Well…” Dawkins said between bites. “… if this were Houston, I’d rather come down, get the burger and go back to the damn box!” He laughed making a motion as if to wipe sweat from his brow. “Ellie… hun… do you have any idea how hot it gets in an damn open-air stadium… in South Texas… in August!?!” He then nodded toward the field. “I doubt y’all have humidity like we do down on the Gulf Coast.”

“Ugh. I see what you mean…” Eleanor said in between two bites. “We made our trip to the Space Center during summer vacations, and I can tell you that Pitts, while humid in the summer, is nothing like what we felt in Houston…”

With a genuine smile, she looked at her company across the table. “Thank you for doing this.”

Eleanor

“Happy to do it Beautiful…” Malcolm grinned, a small piece of lettuce in his teeth. “… you’re worth someone taking the time for you.” He blushed, feeling the lettuce and realizing how cheesy he sounded. “Um.. sorry ‘bout that!” Malcolm said with one hand over his mouth so the other could retrieve the spare topping from his teeth, a bright blush growing hotter. “I um… I would think any guy in his right mind would wanna spend his day with a girl like you.”

Malcolm

Part of Eleanor wanted to laugh, the other wanted to blush. Blushing she did brightly at his comment, but her laughter ended up mostly as a half nervous giggle. “You’re sweet.” She said shyly. “Just like any girl in her right mind would want to spend her day with a guy like you.” She smiled and blushed brighter. “Although I must say… I thought yinz in the fighter squadrons were required to be jagoffs. I feel like I hit jackpot.”

Eleanor

“Ah hell…” Malcolm blushed once more, his tone more clearly South Texas drawl. “… I ain’t nothin’ special, I can assure you of that. Just got a momma that beat some sense in ta’ me at an early age. I just…” Dawkins warm brown eyes found hers across the table. “… I just hope I get another day.” He was clearly trying to not blush more, and it was clearly not working.

“Well…” He continued. “… I have a general idea as to what a… jagoff… is…” Dawkins laughed at the local slang. “… but I can assure you, we’re not all pricks.”

Malcolm

“Jagoff… a very particular type of jackass. Sorry… I keep forgetting that a most people don’t use the term…” Eleanor smiled. “Maybe I was unlucky in the people I worked with. Most of them are just obnoxious and like to rub in your face that they can fly something you can’t. Sometimes was like a stab to the heart.”

Eleanor felt her breathing deepen slightly as Malcolm’s accent became slightly more pronounced. Her heart seemed to jump up and down inside her chest. The blush on her cheeks shown brighter too as she smiled and said. “I would love to give you as many days as you want.”

Eleanor

Malcolm couldn’t stop himself from saying it, his words moving faster than his sense and his lips writing a check he didn’t know if he could cash. “Well… I hope at least one of those days turns into a night.” The confident air in which he said the words vanished in a glowing blush as bright as he’d probably ever had. Dawkins’s eyes snapped away from Carnegie’s and he sighed softly. “Sorry… um… I didn’t mean to come off like that.”

Malcolm

Eleanor almost choked on her tea. Her eyes widened in disbelief, but when she finally managed to swallow the contents of her mouth and regain her breathing, she let out a hearty laugh. “Yeah you did.” She said playfully. “You were just telling me how much you would like to drive me crazy all around this stadium.” She winked. “And well… after our make out session last night… I hope so too.” She smiled. This time more warmly. “You know, as a recon pilot, it’s my job to evaluate and find out what’s on the playing field before anyone else gets there. I was more than perfectly aware where this was going. I just hope that, like a fighter pilot, you don’t just get there too fast and leave.”

Eleanor

As Eleanor spoke, Malcolm smiled, happy he hadn’t made a complete ass of himself with the Freudian slip. And then… that last comment. The laugh was genuine but the mischievously roguish smile and twinkle in Malcolm’s eyes would give Ellie chills. “One thing Sweetheart…” His eyes flashed a… challenge(?). “… getting there too fast has never been a problem and I assure you… you won’t want me to leave Darlin’.” The last words in almost a purr of smooth southern Texas twang.

Malcolm

Eleanor’s heart fluttered as she unconsciously bit her lower lip. “Well… if you’re so confident on your abilities…” She said in a seductive tone as she leaned slightly forward. The last few bites of her burger forgotten on her plate. “How about you show me what you’re really capable of after the game?” She winked. “After all… with a promise like that, you can’t leave a lady hangin’… Unless of course… you’re the one saying things you’re not ready to back up…”

Eleanor

If Eleanor was going to say anything else, it never escaped her lips before Malcolm had closed the distance between them and with his fingers either side of her ponytail, kissed Carnegie in a way she never had before. Sure, there was passion in the kiss… a lot of it. But there was something more. An intensity so strong that by the time his lips left hers, he could have probably drug her to floor in the real restaurant and she simply wouldn’t have cared.

The kiss… the kiss was something else. The power… the intimacy… the passion… When Malcolm broke away, if she wasn’t sitting down, Eleanor was sure her knees would have thrown her on the floor. As he leaned back on his chair, her gaze was defying. Almost as if she was challenging him to continue.

As he leaned back, his eyes met hers once more and with a fire raging in his gaze, said coolly. “If you think you’re ready for a Texas boy… we’ll see who has a hard time hangin’ in there. I can assure you, Beautiful… the only complaints will be from your neighbors.”

Malcolm

With a smirk, Carnegie shot back. “Oh honey… I’ve dealt with a lot of fighter jocks at the Academy… and if there’s anything I know is that yinz talk a lot of smack.” The smirk never left her lips. “I think you think I have less experience than I actually do.” She winked. “Although I have none with Texas boys. So… again… why don’t you show me after the game what yinz down South can do.”

Eleanor

“Ellie…” Malcolm began with another seductive purr in his tone. “… this, Darlin’, has nothin’ to do with the little boys that over shot their mouths in San Fran…” Dawkins pulled his bottom lip against his top teeth and passion burned even brighter in his gaze. “… this is about you and me. A woman that can kiss the way you do knows exactly what she’s doin’ and what she wants. And…” Malcolm gave her knee another squeeze. “… that tells me everything I need to know and the level of game I need to bring to even keep up, much less impress. As for that…” He leaned in and kissed the side of her neck once more, then whispered. “… if you ain’t impressed, I didn’t do my job. And I’m a very hard worker.”

Malcolm

Eleanor’s smirk returned slightly, washed by the fluttering of her heart and of all the emotions he was making course through her. Her breathing was becoming shallower again and she hoped he didn’t notice it. One thing was certain, if his game was as good as his flirting was… she had found herself a winner.

A matching smirk crossed Malcolm’s face as he noticed Ellie’s breathing pattern shift. “Issues Captain?” He winked, his gaze never leaving hers.

She smiled, picking the last of her hamburger and returning to the task of eating it. “How about we watch some baseball, Captain? That way you can preserve your energy… because it seems like you’ll have a lot of work to do tonight…” And with that, she emptied her glass of tea with the same expertise she had emptied the vodka shots the day before. “What say you?”

Eleanor

With a nod, it was as if Malcolm flipped a switch and the sweet boy that started the date returned, an almost innocent look in his eyes. The only telltale was the roguish smile. “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. I’m just here to watch my beloved Astros kick the Pirates butt all over this stadium.” He downed his teeth and grinned. “I say… game on.”

Squinting at Malcolm, Eleanor smiled. Rolling her eyes, she didn’t grace him with a reply.

The Marine stood from his chair and stepped beside Ellie. “You ready’ Darlin’?” He smiled as he offered his hand.

Malcolm

“Always.” Her gaze still held the same defiance as before. Taking his hand, she stood up and walked with Malcolm back down to the field. The excitement, the noise, the color… there was so much to take in, and Eleanor, almost forgetting they were in a holodeck, watched everything as if she was a child.

“So… what seats are we choosing?”

Eleanor

“Section 133, Row A…” Malcolm said without missing a beat. “… I picked seats 7 & 8 to be just a bit inside the left field foul line. Great place to catch a few balls.” As they rounded the wall of center field, heading from right to left field, Malcolm motioned to a section of seats just inside the foul line across the stadium from where they were walking. “That’s our section there. I figured you’d like to see the field in all its grandeur.” The Marine smiled warmly as he looked down at the auburn-haired pilot. There was something different in the late afternoon sun… in his eyes. The desire for her was definitely still there but there was a glow about the way he looked at her. A way some women wait their whole lives to see once. And there it was.

Malcolm