Posted by Lieutenant Commander Richard Marsh (Person Who Keeps The CO In Line (XO)) in Surprise Attack at the Pet Emporium (Tag XO)

(snip)

Rick’s facial expression shifted to neutral as he studied her reaction. The woman was definitely caught off guard and his element of surprise goal turned out to be a success this time around. From his past experience with Brenna, she was not the type that was easily surprised, so this was quite the feat. He found it odd that she whispered her question, but he did not want to make her feel awkward. Instead he stepped forward and sized Brenna up. He was eight inches taller than her, but it was a lovely contrast in a male to female height ratio. He leaned down, cupped his hand by his lips, and whispered back in her ear, “Well since we are whispering and are taking our inside voices to extreme measures to avoid being detected by hostiles, I had a wonderful girlfriend in the past that was a fantastic Intelligence officer. She provided me with a solid pointer or two while working in the field together. I miss that woman, she was a personal favorite of mine.” He smiled and took a step back away from her to ensure that she had her own personal space.

There was a half wall between them, there was no reason for her step back, but step back she did, but Fenris had other ideas. ‘No mom we don’t step away from people who make us nervous. You’re alpha dog, act like it. OH! He’s close! Geri! Freki! Look at that, mom doesn’t let anyone get near her like that. OH I like his smell!’ There were lots of back and forth tail wags, ear lifts, and nose twitches of agreement from the other two as Fenris got right behind her legs stopping the half step back. Which mean Brenna had to tilt her head back in order to keep her eyes on his face. Then he whispered to her and she closed her eyes listening to the rumbled tenor of his voice. It brought back too many memories, and too many regrets. ‘Hey I don’t like him,’ Geri rumbled at the other two, ‘She’s sad now. I can smell it. I don’t like him.’ She shook her head slightly still whispering but a little more sure of herself, “You got Dtizman to do it for you.” Dtizman had been in their class at the Academy and there was no one better at encrypting messages or making sure only those he wanted saw the documents he wanted them to see.

His deep sea blue eyes made contact with her native black Betazoid eyes as if he was peering into Brenna’s soul. Rick’s eyes then saw puppy hair on Brenna’s left shoulder and swiftly brushed it off her shoulder with his right hand casually. He tilted his head slightly, “You have all kinds of hair mixed into that uniform Miss Sasquatch.” He grinned at Brenna after completing the joke. He had told her about the rumors of Sasquatch when they were together over eight years ago as part of Earth’s 20th Century conspiracy theories. Rick set his hands at his side, “The truth is, I wanted to surprise you. I was recently promoted to the Executive Officer of the Constellation and I look forward to working with you Brenna.” The light from above reflected off of his stylish brown short spiked hair-do . He paused and took in Brenna’s appearance and she was definitely still a gorgeous woman in his eyes, quite the female specimen herself.

• Lieutenant Commander Marsh, XO

Black obsidian eyes danced with laughter. Miss Sasquatch indeed. “You don’t have room to talk Scruffy,” her hand half way to tugging on the unkempt beard. “You’re out of uniform.” She dropped her hand to Fenris’ head as the dog continuing to look up at Richard, tongue lolling. She glanced down at the three “Fuss (fooss).” The dogs immediately moved as she opened the door and followed her out, “Zwinger,” and they all went to lie on their beds, but not before Fenris purposely knocked into her making her take a step closer to Richard. Brenna glared at the dog, having felt the ‘playfulness’ and determination in the dogs emotions. Richard would recognize the softly muttered curses from her native Betazoid.
Lt Cmdr Atoded, CoP

Rick reacted just about instantaneously to Brenna getting pushed towards him by placing his hands on both of her sides stabilizing her like she weighed nothing to him. He made direct eye contact with her and had a witty grin come across his face, “Easy there grace. I did not realize that you missed me THAT much.” He winked at her clearly being humorous, immediately set his hands back at his sides, and took a half a step back. He did not want Brenna to feel uncomfortable in their reunion and preferred to keep everything professional, “I will be shaving this evening to avoid a lecture from my new Captain. I figured that you would call me out on it.” He then paused for a moment and thought about how he would approach his next question.

Her hands reached out to stead herself, and landed on sculpted pecks. Whoa....Richard had always been fit, but this was like Captain America compared to before his super soldier transformation. How could his grip still be so familiar after 8 long years. She met his gaze and then laughed. He had only ever called her ‘Grace’ when she did something spectacularly clumsy, and that wasn’t often. “So kind of you to catch me Sir MouseHeart.” Oh if he only knew how much she’d missed him, at first. Then how often she thought about him and wondered what might have been, and where is he now? She stepped back when he dropped his hands, quickly dropping her own hands. The captain, right, Zarcal. “Make sure you wait for him to let you in, the fluorine atmosphere could really hurt you.” Wow Brenna, that was good conversation. Why in the world are you so awkward, it’s Richard.

“Brenna, I would like to have dinner with you, catch up, and have a discussion about the Constellation. It has been eight years now, a new ship for me, and it is truly a breath of fresh air to see a familiar face here. How about I pick you up at 19:00 tomorrow night?” Rick wanted to give her time to process everything, since it clearly came as a surprise to her. “Would you be comfortable with that? We will be working together closely as first and second officer so we need to be on the same page in regards to command and operations.” A look of curiosity was now evident on his face. His intentions were genuine, but he masked his feelings from her. Being with her in the past helped him master concealing his thoughts and emotions from her in most situations. Just like in the game of poker, he did not want to give away his hand.

• Lieutenant Commander Marsh, XO

Dinner? Brenna turned her gaze to the reader, ‘He wants to have dinner. After 8 years and suggests we wait till tomorrow? I’m supposed to wait till tomorrow? Suuuuurrrrre....I can do that, right?’ She took a deep breath though and looked, disappointed.

See Fenris! He made her sad again. Though I don’t know why eating would make her sad. It’s a wonderful idea. I’m hungry too. Geri tossed out. That’s not sad, she’s NOT sad, humans have too many emotions but that one isn’t really sad. Fenris insisted. Fekri, Oh you two stop. Humans are so strange about picking a mate, ignore them and let me take a nap.

They were going to work together, he was her boss now, she was 2O. It was just work, that’s all it was, and she was supremely disappointed about that. “I’ll meet you there, 17 forward instead of 18. It will be easier to talk.” She was going to have to find a way to work with the officer and not be with the man. Of course if she could read him she’d know how wrong her assessment was, but he was very good at that. “I suppose you are here to pick out your pet?”
Lt Cmdr Atoded.

Rick green-lighted Brenna’s plan to meet at 17 forward tomorrow evening and made animated gestures with his hands as he spoke, “You know the ship better than I do, so I will defer to your exemplary judgement. Hopefully we do not have to listen to any Klingon opera throughout dinner. Did you know that the Klingon singers literally stab themselves in the heart and die after finishing the last vocal note? They are a fascinating race, but so barbaric.” He maintained a wide stance and faced Brenna with excellent posture highlighted by his broad shoulders. He was clearly comfortable talking to his ex-girlfriend despite the significant duration of time since their last known engagement.

Was he rambling? Yes he was, how interesting. Anyone else wouldn’t notice, but Brenna, well Brenna had spent more than just time with him. Intimacy when being Betazed (or any telepathic species) was quite different from how Humans viewed it. And they, Brenna and Richard, had been so much more. He was filling the seconds while his brain processed what he needed to do. Oh his posture and body language emanated total confidence and control. It showed off those broad shoulders and powerful muscles quite nicely too. But she knew him and he was rambling - about Klingon opera and that meant she knew exactly what he was trying NOT to think about. Them, and what they were together. Richard only rambled about Klingon opera when he was trying to stay focused and not be focused on her and himself. She took a step towards him, laughing softly. “Klingon opera, Richard?” His name coming off like a warm caress. “You’ve only been here two minutes, and already you’re resorting to Klingon Opera.”

He furrowed his brow in response to Brenna’s question as he pointed at himself with his thumb and a clenched fist, “A pet? Ha! For me? I have enough trouble keeping up with taking care of myself.” He smirked at Brenna. He made direct eye contact with Brenna and figuratively fell into her lovely Betazoid eyes, “I have never given it much thought either, so I do not have a clue what kind of pet I would ever even take home with me. I do admire the three huskies of yours though. I am sure they make fantastic furr children. You are one of the most caring women I have ever met in my entire life as it is, so they are quite fortunate to have you as a mother.” He pivoted of of his back right heel, turning to face the three dogs, “And don’t any of you forget it, ever! That is an order.” Rick reverted back to facing Brenna and it was evident that he looked forward to hearing what she had to say at this point.

• Lieutenant Commander Marsh, XO

She smiled, a slight blush at his compliment. He used to mean it, and she had no reason to think he didn’t know. At his words and attention, Fenris sat up, he didn’t move, he was too well trained, but he sat up, eyes focused on him, tail wagging furiously. He looked from Richard to Brenna and back and back again. Brenna could feel it, his desire to have more attention from Richard, to know him and the excitement. She sighed and made a slight hand gesture, “Go ahead Fenris.” Her voice was soft but the hand signal was all he needed and he was right on top of Richard in an instant, sniffing, pawing, tongue lolling in doggy excitement, he paused to sniff Brenna once and then sniff Richard again. TOLD YOU he put his scent on her when he caught her! Geri and Fekri gave doggy sighs and ignored him.

“I have all kinds here. Dogs, cats,” she steps into a small screened enclosure and walks out with a tiny animal that looks like a cross of a squirrel and tea cup monkey, “to Sugar Gliders.” She holds him carefully letting Richard look at it, and then locked her gaze on his blue one. “You have to be careful with these, they bond for life, they die if you leave them behind.”
Lt Cmdr Atoded, CoP