Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Permission please (Atten To Cobb)

Posted by Crewman Quinn Emery Kindle (Yeoman / RTF) in Permission please (Atten To Cobb)

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Permission please (Atten To Cobb)
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
After her meeting with Vonn the new RTF commander, Quinn checked her list of Cobb’s appointments and slotted herself in for the next free one, she picked up some food for his fish, and brought the small tank with the new beta fish in it ( https://www.aqueon.com/-/media/Images/Aqueon-NA/US/Assets/Articles/Origin%20of%20Betta/betta-fins-bluered-fins.jpg?la=en&hash=EB34AA3A47D8873E7E22D50BBC846567FD396D7B ), with her as well. Originally the beta fish had been intended as a birthday gift but the fish she had requested had not arrived. Now that it was here she wanted to give it to him in person. She rang the chime on his office and waited for permission to enter.

Quinn Kindle, Yeoman, RTF, Cobb’s Angel

“Enter,” came a familiar voice, although muffled as if wading through a mouthful of sticky caramel. And indeed, once inside the room, Quinn would find the captain finishing off a pastry he had saved over from breakfast, traitorous flakes of pastry and drops of glistening sugar still decorating his beard.

“Ah, Quinn, I was just…”
Rising quickly to his feet, Zachariah wiped at his mouth with a shirt sleeve, then crossed the room to meet her, his attention captured immediately by the fishtank in her arms.
“Well, what is this now, eh? Hello there, little guys,” he bent down to place his nose against the tank and properly greet the fish.

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Quinn bit back a grin, at the sight of Cobb brushing away the pastry bits out of his beard with sleeves, if her hands hadn’t been full with the small fish tank and food she would have walked over to the replicator and gotten him a napkin. “These are your belated birthday gift from me, I know are still enjoying the bottle of scotish whisky but this is the present I wanted to give you originally.” she said gently, before she paused and looked up at him meeting his eyes. “I wanted to get your opinion on something if that is alright?”

“Well, I reckon this is one of the best gifts anyone has ever given me,” Cobb replied, gently lifting the tank from her arms and placing it in the centre of his bar, where it could assume elevated status amongst all his other prized possessions.

Then turning back to Quinn, he dismissed the formality of his desk and instead beckoned her over to the viewing window and the comfortable seat that ran the full length of the wall below it.
“Aye, of course it’s alright,” he attempted to reassure her. “Please, ask away.”

Quinn wasn’t one hundred percent certain how he would feel about her next words but she hoped he would hear her out. She swallowed and spoke gently, “I met with the new RTF commander and he said that if I stay on the teams I would have to be willing to stop whatever I am doing to go do what is needed. I take my position as your yeoman very seriously, and I also want to be sure I am helping out where I can.” she fell silent a long moment before she added keeping her eyes on his face, “I will quit the RTF if that is what you think is best, but if you allow it I would prefer helping them out. Whatever you decide I will abide by.” Quinn finished quietly, honestly.

Quinn Kindle, Yeoman, RTF, Cobb’s Angel

At her mention of the RTF Commander, Cobb visibly stiffened, still irritated beyond measure by the mention of the Breen. But as Quinn’s conundrum was explained, his own features softened and he reached out to gently take hold of her hand.
“Quinn, I…I am honoured that you would seek my opinion, both as your captain and also as…your friend,” he dared to venture. “And while you are, and will be, always, irreplaceable as my yeoman, our duty is to the ARU above all. And that includes yours to the RTF.”

A pause, Cobb rising now to his feet and pacing, determinedly, before her.
“I know how much your role with them means to you and I am prouder than I have words to express of how adept you are in that role. Plus,” he added with a chuckle, “what good are your wonderful pastries if an anomaly gets to them before I do, eh?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Quinn blushed softly when he had taken her hand, her eyes focused on his face as he spoke. “How you feel about my work matters to me.” he was her friend she wanted to say he was more than that too but one thing at a time. His pacing in front of her had her grinning cheekily even as she listened to the rest of his words. “True though I don’t think the anomalies that got the last batch appreciated them too much.” she retorted softly, a pause and then she got to her feet. “One more thing.”

Quinn knew once she said her next words there was no taking it back. Seeing crew hurt and gone because of anomalies and transfers, pointed out that she shouldn’t wait or else she would have regrets. Quinn locked her gaze on his cerulean blue eyes and spoke softly, “I like you a great deal Captain Zachariah Cobb and if you don’t toss me out an air lock for being over bold, I would like to see if we can be more than friends.”

Her inner most thoughts were a mixture of ((He is going to tell me to get out! Here is hoping he doesn’t laugh. Oh Isis please don’t let him be dating someone else already)). She kept still her face turning pink but she wasn’t backing down she said what she felt was right.

Quinn Kindle, Yeoman, RTF, Cobb’s Angel

With gentle yet firm grip of her slender hands in his, Zachariah led Quinn back over to the couch and then seated them both so that he could look deep into her eyes, unhindered. In his own, soft lighting was caught by rogue moisture, reflecting back to her like a thousand, dying stars.
“Oh Quinn,” he whispered on anxious and fragile breath, “you have no notion of how much I longed to hear such sentiment from you. Or for the opportunity to declare my own deepening feelings for you in return. So now, let me declare them before this moment is lost. I care for you, Quinn Emery Kindle. I care for you with a strength and a fondness I had thought lost to me to the end of all time.”

A pause as his right hand was brought up to stroke gently at her cheek, the blush of red against his palm like rich wine first falling upon his tongue. But bitterness came as chaser, always, and as quickly as it had risen, the same hand now fell back down to once more cling to her own.

“I am not a good man, Quinn Kindle. As much as I might once have longed to be, as much as others might claim of me still, to continue such a lie would be to blacken every atom between us that is good. I know not what you see when you look upon me, whether the stain of the previous decades lies plain across my face, or hides like a coward behind well-trimmed beard and gleaming captain’s pips. But just as your captain I would warn you of external danger, so too as friend must I now warn you of the danger that lies within. Here,” his fist pounded against his chest.

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Quinn looked at him and gave him a full smile showing off the dimples in her cheeks, her eyes twinkling as she spoke, “What I see is a honest man, who has been through a lot and still has lines you don’t cross. You say you’re not good but you give a damn and you do what is right even when it isn’t easy.” She gave his hands a gentle squeeze with her own smaller ones, “I don’t scare from many things.” Quinn paused and added softly, “There’s danger in every heart. We just have to be brave enough to admit it’s there and maybe have a friend to lean on when it gets dark.”

Quinn Kindle, Yeoman, RTF, Cobb’s Angel