Posted by Captain Dante Knight (Commanding Officer) in Mess Hall Daye has lunch with Knight Posted by Lieutenant Natasha Daye (Doctor) in Mess Hall Daye has lunch with Knight : Posted by Captain Dante Knight (CO) in Mess Hall Daye has lunch with Knight
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: : : Natasha gave him a half smile and rolled her eyes. This was not the first nor the second proposal. The two prior mishaps had created the running joke of third times a charm for any event that was not going their way. She let out a small laugh and then looked into Dante’s eyes again. The slight tug around his eyes that always accompanied his joking smile was not evident. Instead, the gaze that peered back at her was hard and determined. Dante Knight was wearing his game face. This was the same look he wore when he was facing down an enemy or a particularly dense pencil pusher playing armchair Captain and sending his ship into a situation that was ill planned. “You’re serious,” Daye said straightening up in on his lap. It was a rhetorical comment more than anything. 
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: : Dante looked into her eyes, their faces so close together he could feel her breath on his cheek, and nodded slowly. “Completely serious Nat” he assured her, and then broke into his wide smile. This smile was one that he reserved almost completely for Natasha alone. In it Dante showed everything that he felt for her, from the knowledge that she was the woman that brought happiness into his life and was the only one that he would ever devote his heart to, to his hopes for their future and a family with her one day. Natasha Daye was the love of Dante’s life and he was tired of living the life of a Starfleet Officer without her close to him. “I need you my girl. I want you with me, right beside me. Natalia Ivanov Daye, I want you to be my wife.” Dante raised his hand to her cheek, slowly running his finger down her jawline and wanting to pull her lips to his.
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: : : Taking a deep breath she answered. “Even if it takes a fourth time,” she gave him a seductive smile before pressing her lips to his in excitement. 
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: : : Lt. Natasha Daye, Medical
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: : He returned the kiss with her deeply, and hungrily. The two of them were nothing like fresh new lovers or a couple still getting to know each other. The fact was Natasha and Dante had been together longer than most people were married already, and knew more about each other than most people would think of, when for all appearances they looked to be a ‘casual’ relationship for years. Most people couldn’t see the connection the two shared and the bond that was strong after many years of each of them pursuing their own careers yet being there for each other at every turning point in the journey. “Oh God” Dante said, breaking off slightly, biting his lip, “There won’t be a fourth time Nat. Not this time. This time you are mine, I am going to make sure of it. This time I am going to take you as my wife, and no Romulan border dispute or medical emergency of Rigelian Measles is going to stop me.” 
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: : Dante moved his hand behind her head and pulled her to him again, once more kissing the woman that he desperately wanted to take the next step in their lives with. The first step had been getting her to agree to go with him to the Broadsword, they had been slightly diverted from that destination but Dante’s goal had never changed. This woman had stood by him and he her for 15 years, ever since their days in the Academy, and for all of that time and all of his experiences his thoughts turned to her every night and every time he sat down for a few minutes. Dante knew within his soul that life without her would be empty and superficial. Nobody would take her place, and there was no room in his heart to love anybody else intimately. Natasha deserved all of it, anything less would would bring the simple meaning of the word love crashing down to a meaningless declaration.
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: : Captain Dante Knight
: : CO
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: A long moment passed where Natasha laid in Dante’s arms not moving. Getting married had always been her plan but so many failed attempts had made Daye accept it would never happen. She had given up her life for him in ways she never planned on. Back when they were young in the Academy, she had laid awake many nights dreaming of what their future held after graduation. Only one of her dreams had come to fruition: that they still loved each other. The house with kids was passing more into fantasy status with each year. Soon it would be a retirement home for two instead of a family home for four. The old, fat dog who barked when someone came by but never got up from the spot he was sleeping. So many things she wanted yet here in his arms with his fingertips gently running up and down her arm she didn’t care. “Baby,” she said in a soft voice. “Where will we live when we get married? In castle, in cottage, in a small town, in a big city, with roommates, in a secluded area, on a farm,or in a mansion?” 
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: Lt. Natasha Day, medical
Dante smiled and placed his cheek against Natasha’s forehead as she lay against him, softly kissing her before he answered, taking a deep breath and letting his chest rise, lifting her with it, and then slowly letting it out so that the two settled together once again. “You are my princess, so if i could I would take you to my castle. But it’s not going to be a traditional castle baby. I’m going to build us a house in Russia, near your home town. It is going to be on land where we can farm and produce our own luxuries. Real wine, fruits, cheeses. There we will retire, you can be the doctor for the local village and schools, and I’ll be the grumpy old man that complains about the kids stealing his apples and strawberries but secretly plants more each year so they have enough.” He inhaled the scent of her hair, in these moments, it was all clear to Dante why he did what he did. So that he and others could have these moments in peace.
Captain Dante Knight
CO

“You know the growing season in Russia is like ten days right,” she gave him a small hug as she nuzzled her head on his chest a bit. “But I don’t want a castle. I want a three-room cottage. One room is the kitchen and eating area. The other is an open room attached to the kitchen so I can sit on the couch while you cook my dinner,” she let out a small laugh. Some people still learned to cook even in this time period. Dante was one of them. The only thing he refused to learn how to cook was soup. Mainly because that was all she liked to eat and he often felt that she needed more than hot water flavored as broth. “The last room is our bedroom. That will give us one place so we can separate but we have been apart enough to fill a lifetime.” Moving her head so that her chin rested on his chest so she could look up at him. “I don’t want a place so big we can spend days apart and need a comm to find each other. I want to be so close we are sick of each other. I never thought I would say this but they only regret I have is that we did not do this sooner. I know you gave lousy reasons and I came up with weak excuses but why did we not make this move sooner,” she asked him. “Why did we wait until now to decide it was time to serve together on the same ship?”

This question had surfaced from time to time in conversation but as she stated one or both of them always seemed to find a reason not to alter their careers and make it so. It was one of the reasons they had gotten together in the first place. He was with Ashley and she had taken a posting not concerned with how it would affect their relationship. That decision had broken up Madison and Knight from a two-year relationship with plans for a future. Daye and Knight had based their entire relationship on the goal that they would never be apart, yet that is how the essentially spent the past two years. Looking up at Dante, Natasha hoped he had a better answer than the one she felt was true. In her mind, the answer was that they had their entire lives to live out the fantasy of marriage, kids, and a family. What she realized at this moment was they had wasted half of that life. Retirement was not a distant thought at their ages. It was closer than farther away. No matter what his answer was, Natasha Daye was not going to waste another second of the life they wanted to live.

Lt. Natasha Daye, medical