Posted by Lieutenant Corinne Dalton (Scientist) in Resort- Finding Our Own Paradise

Posted by Commander Dr. Royal Sinclair (Executive Officer) in Resort- Finding Our Own Paradise

Posted by Lieutenant Corinne Dalton (Scientist) in Resort- Finding Our Own Paradise
Posted by… suppressed (13) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Cori moved to deal with the sail and shook her head. “You’re making me steer on my first time out? Bold choice there, Sinclair. I mean, I can pilot a shuttle but I haven’t in a long time. I hope you’re okay swimming in deep water,” Cori said matter-of-factly. Whether she was kidding or not was hard to tell.

~Corinne Dalton

“You have my utmost confidence in your abilities to sail the briny blue.” he said with a smile. “And trust me, once we are out on the open water… you’ll never want to go back.” and he laughed loudly.

Between the two of them they am ulcered the slip out of the harbor, through the channel; and in half an hour they were leaving the relative calm of the harbor. The waves weren’t large, but they made the small boat rise and fall enough that balance was a conscious thing. Royal tookna deep breath and closed his eyes. “By all the gods… there is no better smell or feeling than this right here.”

Cmdr. Royal Sinclair, XO

Cori was focused on all the small details had had relayed and thanks to her new body and souped up brain, she actually could recall it all quite easily. It meant that she could steal a moment to focus on him and watch as he simply enjoyed existing out here. She had never seen him like that. He was a big man who could be as intimidating as he could gentle and soothing. But she couldn’t ever recall seeing him so at peace before. There was a deep flutter in her stomach that was more than any pervious moment of attraction. She had felt strongly about people before but this felt different.

“I love you,” she said before she had fully registered that she was even saying them. Cori flushed slightly, but kept her gaze on him, in slight awe.

~Corinne Dalton

He didn’t move, and for a moment it seemed like he hadn’t heard her. He just sat there, eyes closed, until he said “All the best things in my life have happened on or near the water. All of them.” His eyes opened and his gaze locked onto hers. “None of them are as good as this moment right here…” and he smiled. “I love you too, Cori. I think I have for quite a while.” He leaned forward and took her chin gently in his hand and touched his lips to hers. He held the kiss for a long time before leaning back. “What brought that on, if I may ask?” he inquired as a grin slipped across his face.

Cmdr. Royal Sinclair, XO

Her lips warm from his kiss, she drew in a slow breath and shrugged a little. “I don’t know exactly. It just… came out. I think”-she shook her head and gazed out over the brilliant blue water before looking at him again-“maybe it’s just you being you. So many of our interactions have been about you helping me or doing stuff for me, and that’s all really lovely. But just now, I guess I could see you, and I realized that I loved the person I was seeing.”

It wasn’t the first time she had said ‘I love you’, but as she had mentioned to him earlier, it was a tricky subject for her given the people she had said it to before were difficult topics for her.

~Corinne Dalton

He kept his gaze on her as she looked out over the water. “Well… it makes me really happy to know that. But don’t think that changes expectations, okay? We still go forward at whatever speed you like. Well, we-” and he gestured back and forth between them, “- go forward like that. But the physical we? Oh, no… those go much faster.” and he laughed as he stood up moved to a winch. He released the retaining clip and the line began to spin quickly off the reel as the sail it was connected to filled with wind and expanded past the bow. As it did, the lalip they were in shot forward and Royal laughed as he went back to the tiller. “Cori! C’mere” he yelled as the water, waves, and wind ratcheted up in volume.

Cmdr. Royal Sinclair, XO

Moving carefully (she learned that part quickly), Cori moved to be next to him as the wind buffeted their bodies. “This is wild!” she said with bright laugh. For all the strange things she was going through and the ways she was working through the past, she felt free, and happy. She was happy with him. He didn’t make her happy, he just gave her reasons to be happy and wasn’t that just the most delightful thing?

~Corinne Dalton

He moved her in front of him and set her hand on the tiller, his hand on top of hers. “Feel the resistance to either side…” he said softly into her ear. “Push back and forth a bit- just a little- and feel how the boat reacts… how it shifts ever so slightly. Feel the vibration of the water moving against the hill. Listen to sails snap and flutter as they adjust to the winds. Sailing is about using all your senses, all your intuition. It takes all your focus until the sounds and sights and the way the boat feels I see your feet becomes second nature.”

Cmdr. Royal Sinclair, XO

It was a strange and beautiful set of sensations and Cori soaked all of it in. Between the intimacy of their contact and the world around them on the water, she had never felt so alive. Which for her, given her life, was a rather remarkable thing. “I can see why you love this,” she told him as she adjusted her weight to the shifting of the boat. It’s not so different than riding horses.”

~Corinne Dalton

“I wouldn’t know.” Royal said. “Never rode one.” He shifted slightly as the wind changed direction ever so slightly. The sails fluttered slightly as the boat changed direction slightly… and then they snapped tight and the boat lurched forward. Royal slid his arm around her waist and grinned. “Hang tight!” he yelled over the wind and the little boat darted forward… directly at a large swell riding in front of them. The boat raced up the face of the wave and, when it reached the crest, the hull rose out of the water and was airborne for a second or two before it came splashing down the other side.

Cmdr. Royal Sinclair, XO

An honest to goodness squeal erupted from Cori’s mouth before she laughed. “oh my God, my stomach,” she said, laughing still. She snuggled into him, feeling the adrenaline coursing through her. “If you like this, I bet you’d love riding a hose at a gallop!” she said over the ocean din.

~Corinne Dalton

Royal smiled and shook his head. “Think I’ll stick ta sailin’, lass. I have to order others around for a living; don’t want to start doin’ that ta some animal on my off time ” and he laughed.

Cmdr. Royal Sinclair, XO

“Suit yourself!” she said with a laugh, before shifting to a softer smile as she remembered racing over the hills on Ajilon on Lacey. That brief stint on the holodeck had reminder her about who she had been and where she had come from, but she had still been stuck in the computer. Now? The possibilities were endless.

Keeping contact with Royal, she felt the wind on her face and how it pulled at the strands of her raven hair. “I’m making a list,” she said after a bit. “Petrakos suggested it. It’s a list of all the things I could possibly want to do or experience. It’s getting long.”

~Corinne Dalton

“That’s good!” Royal said with a laugh. “Shows you are planning for the future… looking forward to life and not dwelling in the past. And besides that, it’ll give you ideas for our next trip together. If ya want to do somethin’ like that, a’course.” and he smiled down at her.

Cmdr. Royal Sinclair, XO

She grinned at him. “Yeah, I could probably do something like that,” Cori teased. “So the next trip is mine to plan, huh? I should probably wait to see how this one goes before I get too may ideas. After all, could be a bust. Or so good I can’t top it.” Her vibrant eyes glittered with amusement.

~Corinne Dalton

Royal released some rope from a winch and the main sail stretched more taught as the rode the swells. “Already the latter for me.” he said with a smile. “‘Sides… we got a few years to catch up on.”

Cmdr. Royal Sinclair, XO

“That we do,” she said, her voice softer. The waves rolled under them and it wasn’t unlike being on a horse at a canter. There was a rhythm you found as you fell into sync with the horse. The thought distracted her for a moment from considering the time that had passed. Again.

She sighed and leaned into him, though mindful not to obstruct his arms as they worked the lines. “I find myself angry at the lost years of time. I know it was meant to be that I came to you now, but I have a normal lifespan now and twice I’ve simply… lost years. It makes me sad, but also angry.” Acknowledging her feeling was good, that much she knew.

~Corinne Dalton

Royal shrugged and said “So as a Counselor, I would say somethin’ along the lines of ‘Well it is completely normal to regret or even grieve lost time.’ or something like that. But since I ain’t on the clock, I’ll say that I’m not gonna regret the time we lost. We cannae’ change it. We cannae’ get it back. So why waste the time we do have worrying about the past?”

Cmdr. Royal Sinclair, XO