Posted by Major General Charles Tenkiller (Vice-Commander, Colonial Customs and Defense Agency) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be

Posted by Lieutenant Sharah Fayth (Chief Star Fleet Medical Officer) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be

Posted by Major General Charles Tenkiller (Vice-Commander, Colonial Customs and Defense Agency) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be
Posted by… suppressed (16) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Tenkiller lay there until he heard the rhythmic breathing of both women. He turned out the lights, but turned on the soft lights under the waterfall. He turned his head and looked at the faces of the two women in his bed… in his house… in his life…

In his heart.

He had no idea what led to this. And he knew that it would be hard and difficult and trying going forward. But he also knew that he wouldn’t trade this for anything. They… he… all of them… belonged here, together. Of that he had zero doubt or reservation. He leaned over and kissed V’s cheek, then Sharah’s. He then laid back and shut his eyes, the feeling of peace and completeness flowing through him and carrying him off to sleep.

Tenkiller

---

Yavia woke first, the room was a soft brown tinged with golden tones from the sun filtering through the solar tubes. There was a soft light coming from behind the bed and she could hear the water as soft under notes to Sharah and TK’s deep breathing. Yavia hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long time, or content. She rolled to her side and grinned. Sharah hadn’t moved all night. Her hair though, all that glorias silky black hair looked like it had gone to a rave. She looked adorable. Except for the mumbling and soft moans. Yavia brushed her hair away from her face, she could feel the headache building along with the confusion and disorientation. She would have to be careful, she didn’t want Sharah to become dependent on her ability to help the physical pain, but for today, it wouldn’t hurt. Yavia didn’t like knowing she was in pain. A gentle caress over her temple eased the pinched look on her face.

She slipped an arm around Sharah and she gazed over at TK. He was an amazing person, caring, compassionate, and incredibly patient. Not to mention he was hot. She grinned to herself and her memories of the night before, but was careful to keep them to tight to herself. Her hand lifted to play with the section of his chair that was hanging over his shoulder and stopped. She had a type! Long black hair. She let her hand smooth down his arm and tangle with his fingers. She wasn’t certain how this happened quite so fast, or what would happen going forward. Certainly not boring peacefulness, but she was certain it would be bright and happy and wonderful. She settled back against the pillows. She had promised Sharah they would both be there when she woke up and she didn’t intend to move until she had to.

Yavia

Tenkiller felt the motion and stayed still. He was a light sleeper most of the time, but he stayed still and let V do her thing. When she settled back in, he cracked his eyes open and looked at her. “Hey, you… did you sleep ok?” he asked softly. He took her hand in his and smiled. “How is our other… third?”

Tenkiller

Yavia folded one arm under her head and opened her eyes again to look at him. “Mmmm I slept wonderfully, right where I should be.” She squeezed his hand a smile playing across her lips. She glanced down at Sharah, “Another headache. I can only do so much. She was moaning a little bit ago. She felt…confused and upset. Strange dreams I guess, but she didn’t wake up.”

“What about you. You sleep okay having to share this gigantic bed with the two of us?”

Yavia

“Nightmares.” Tenkiller said softly as he looked at Sharah. “There’s something weighing on her mind.” He looked at V and smiled. “And I slept great. Having you two here just felt… right.”

Tenkiller

Yavia smiled at him, “I’m glad because I don’t want to be anywhere else. It was…We’re whole.” She squeezed his hand and glanced at the still sleeping woman between them. “I’ll take nightmares,” her voice was very quiet. She glanced down at Sharah and rub her hand up and down her arm before looking back at him. “There is a part of her that has given up, on everything. Not just hopeless but accepting of it. If she’s having nightmares that means she scared, she has something she feels is important enough to not lose.” She drew in a breath and let it out. “I felt it, last night, when she said she could kill people. She was afraid, is afraid. I can’t imagine Sharah ever hurting anyone, not even by accident.”

Yavia

Tenkiller nodded. “She has a tremendous gift. But she is scared of it. There was a very wise Earth philosopher in the twentieth century. Many people followed his philosophies and teachings. And one of his core tenants was ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’. Sharah is carrying that as a burden.” He looked down at her and concern and affection vied for control. “I wish I could show that she isn’t some kind of weapon. She is a person. And her gift has the ability to do a whole lotta good for people.”

Tenkiller

Yavia looked perplexed. “I know she was born with her telepathy and that’s unusual for Betazoids. And something about it prevents her from being able to filer or turn it off.” Her hand kept up that soothing motion. “No wonder she gets headaches. Ilena, one of the other nurses, told me Sharah has actually lived longer than most. They usually die in childhood. But why, in this universe or the next, would she think she’s a weapon?”

Yavia

Tenkiller looka at Sharah and sighed. “Thats for her to tell you, not me.” he said softly. He kissed Sharah’s cheek softly and then looked at V. “She’s special. Very special. And really amazing.” and he smiled a half-smile. “Just like you. I really am the luckiest guy in the whole galaxy. I have both of the most amazing women I have ever known with me. And its just… perfect.”

Tenkiller

Yavia reached over and set her hand on his shoulder. She could feel his concern and worry and how much he cared for her. “Fair enough. In her own time.” She watched him kiss her and she could only smile. “You are pretty amazing yourself you know. That or your just crazy taking all this” and she waved between herself and Sharah, “on all by your lonesome.” She laughed softly and leaned across to kiss him quickly. “If you are trying to butter me up so I’ll make breakfast, it’s working, but not until she’s awake.”

Yavia

“We need to remember that, tell her she’s amazing and she’ll cook. We don’t even have to be specific,” there was a hint of a smile to Sharah’s voice, despite being muffled by pillows. She yawned slightly. “She is awake.” She rolled slightly, not much, she was pretty well tucked between them. “Who can sleep with you two jabbering?”

Sharah

Charles smiled down at her, his genuine happiness at her being awake was like a kid at Christmas. “Hey, you… good mornin’. How’d ya sleep?” he asked and then hugged her. “Sorry if we woke you.” he said. He then grinned and said “So are we planning any more late night walks? I’m asking in advance so at least I wear shoes next time.” and he chuckled.

Tenkiller

He hugged her and Sharah didn’t want to let go, ever, and he was so brightly happy, she just wanted to enjoy it for awhile. There were so many questions with no truly simple answers, though. “I slept longer than I usually do.” She shook her head, all those untamed wild, bane of her existence curls flew everywhere. “Is it pathetic to say I’d would rather wake up to your jabber every day than alone with just the noise in my head?” She looked up at him. “Yeah, mostly likely there will be more.” Sometimes it just helped.

Yavia hugged her, and then let go, moving away a bit, to give her room to move. “You gotta tell me though, how amazing that was, seeing TK in the middle of the woods wearing nothing but a phaser.” The image sent Yavia into a barely restrained fit of laughter.

Sharah turned red which only made Yavia laugh more.

“Okay I have no idea what you groceries you got, but I’ll cook.” She hugged Sharah wrapping her up in warm affection and then leaned over and kissed TK. She slipped out of the bed and with a happy sigh. “You two better not go back to sleep,” she wagged a finger at them.

“Yavia,” Sharah said before she could leave, “leave the paw-paws alone.”

At the door she paused and looked at Sharah and made the most elegant pouty face they had ever seen and then slipped through the door.

Yavia

Sharah laughed, “You had more than your share. And if you don’t pace yourself his Ma won’t be able to keep up.” She pushed herself up and sat back against the pillows. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.”

Sharah

Charles put an arm around her and pulled her, gently, to him, holding her against him but allowing her to move away… or closer… as she wished.

Sharah didn’t stiffen or pull away. She simply closed her eyes and breathed in slow and controlled once, twice, and a third time. It was a type of meditation - feeling the rhythm of the colony and how it was affecting her and finding how best to ride it out. It was incredibly easy that morning. It was simple and short. Most days it took so long that she felt rushed to finish getting ready for the day, but this was necessary, the rest was extra. She contributed it to Tenkiller and Yavia, their presence.

Then she was leaned closer to him, turned and curled up against him, head on his shoulder, her arm slipped across his abdomen in a light hug.

“I’ll always worry about you, Sharah. V too. Thats just what happens when you… care… for someone as much as I care for you two. And yeah, it is wild and strange and weird and scary and just… so out of the norm.” He looked at her, smiling a soft smile as he traded a finger down her cheek and looked at her with a sense of wonder and affection and a myriad of other things. “But its also amazing and wonderful and exciting and fantastic. I haven’t been as happy as I was waking up to the two of you as I have been in… I dunno how long.” He laid his head back, closing his eyes and listening to the water for a brief moment. “I feel whole, like I have all of everything. Like… my circle is finally complete.”

Tenkiller

His words made her smile, even as she tipped her head gently into the caress and closed her eyes to stop from crying. His emotions wrapped her in a warm safe little bubble. It was overwhelming but she didn’twant him to stop either. “Nothing for me has ever been the norm. I wouldn’t know what that would feel like anyway.” Truth but playful. She wanted so badly to say she was happy, to share in that intensity of feeling. She was hesitant, afraid to feel anything too intently lest she loose control of it.

Out of everything he had repeated to her over and over yesterday that last statement took root. Being whole, that alone they were incomplete, unable to function completely without the rest. That putting all the pieces into the whole would make everything better. She tightened her arm around him for just a moment. “You think about that circle a lot, it’s important to you.” A statement and also a question.

Sharah

“Lesson of my people.” he said and slowly ran his hand up and down her arm. “Circles are sacred, and they come in many forms. Drum circles, tribal councils, family, community… all of life. All of creation is circular and cyclical. A tree begins as a seed, grows, reaches to the sky, drops seeds of its own, the tree dies and falls and becomes part of the earth, and feeds the seeds which grow into trees… Everything in creation has a role to play. It may be immense… it might be very small. But all of them are needed for harmony. Without all the parts of the circle, it will always be incomplete.” He looked at her and smiled. “And I’m really happy that you’re part of mine.” He leaned his head forward and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

Tenkiller

It was going to take her awhile to get used to that. The way he was always putting an arm around her, holding her hand, giving her swift soft kisses, the way he rested his hand on her leg every so often during the movie. Sharah wasn’t complaining; she just didn’t know what to do with it. She felt confused, conflicted, and overwhelmed. He was the same with Yavia. Sharah envied her. It didn’t confuse Yavia. She knew exactly what to do with it, and how it made her feel. Yavia knew where and how she belonged. So did Tenkiller. “You know exactly who you are and your place in things don’t you? It makes you feel very serene.” There was no place for an abnormality, a monster, like her. She was a weapon. A forgotten one maybe, but one never the less.

Sharah

“We can’t be anymore than what we are. But we can use what we are to benefit others.” He looked at her, and lifted her chin so she faced him. “You are not a danger, Sharah. You are not a threat. In fact, you saved a lot of people. I’m not talking about you being a doctor. I mean what you did for those people that were gonna rush the hospital.” He squeezed her tight, but kept his eyes on her eyes. “Hun, I know about your gifts. When I got to Oed, I was briefed on a lot of people and groups. You were one of those people.”

Well that certainly explained the utter confidence that came along with all those statements he kept making. He knew, about the protest, what she had done. That revelation made Sharah stare up at him in utter stillness, from the look in her eyes to her breath - waiting. She had assumed it had gone unnoticed or unexplained because no one came asking. She assumed C’tain or Eraras had reported it. Hell Devri had been right there. Maybe they just hadn’t believed it. She should not have let Markus convince her everything was fine. Her gaze slid down, away from his. They knew about her, they talked about her. She should have told on herself, and she opened her mouth to say so.

He put his hand up and shook his head to silence any protest. “It was never bad, nor was it deeming you a threat. You were… are… listed as a potential asset in the case of Oed having another wide-spread disaster. Your abilities can… and have… helped so many people, hun.” He took a breath and there was a feeling of strong conflict within him, followed by resolve. “What nobody outside of the CCDA, Colonial Intelligence, the Police Commissioner, and the Governor’s office know is that those protests? Like the one you stopped? They were manufactured. The people were being manipulated by empaths. Not blatantly. But they were there, in the crowd, pushing people’s emotions to the brink of violence. If you hadn’t stepped in? Sharah… people could have gotten killed. The protest at the Government Tower only ended peacefully because the CIA managed to grab the empath that was in the crowd and get him away.”

Sharah did not look surprised by his revelation at all. At the time she just knew it had felt wrong. Even Korczak had mentioned how strange it was for a whole crowd to suddenly change their behavior so quickly. She couldn’t then or now, pinpoint what had felt so wrong. That many people so angry and violent was wrong to begin with. It had completely overwhelmed her, attacked her, and she had felt the break, the snap in her brain as it became more than she could handle. Then she had done…well whatever it was, and passed out. She understood why he saw it as a good thing, she did, but she felt like no one was listening…

He smiled at her and said “Sharah… I’m so proud of you. You are an amazing, talented, wonderful, beautiful woman… and you did an amazing thing. A thing I haven’t and won’t tell anybody about. But I promised you… no secrets.” And then, for no other reason than he thought it was right, he kissed her. Fully and openly, and then pulled back and looked at her. “You are wonderful, and I am really happy you… all of you… is here.”

Tenkiller

Then she was still for a totally different reason - he’d kissed her, really kissed her. She could fall into that, the feelings, the safety, the warmth. Oh she didn’t know what to do with that at all. She felt like the ground had given way and she was falling.

Sharah