Leaves on the Wind

Posted on Mon Nov 21, 2016 @ 1:40am by Ailyssa Wells & Ensign Michael Donovan

Mission: An Orion to Die For
Location: Deck 10
Timeline: MD 2 || 1800 Hours

While the rest of the crew and ship did whatever they were doing, civilian business owner Ailyssa Wells was setting up the last touches to the Subspace Sound Nightclub that she had been granted a contract to operate on the massive Odyssey class starship. She had fought long and hard to get the posting, not only for the business, but for a certain young man she knew had been assigned to the Triumphant.

The interior of the club walls looked like an unused holodeck with black walls and yellow grids but was furnished with comfortable faux leather sofas and chairs off to the left of the entrance with enough to seat sixty people comfortably. A large bar was to the right with enough for forty people and a large dance floor dominated the center of the room. At the back of the room was a large Holo Jockey table on a raised dais and four cages were suspended from the ceiling near the center of the room.

Ailyssa had been looking at a PADD in her hands and making frequent requests for a member of the crew, then smiled as she saw the icon representing the person coming down the Promenade near the nightclub. She checked her hair and lipstick, then the tight black and silver body suit she wore before casually strolling out the main doors just in time to 'accidentally' run into the man she had waited so long to see again.

Michael had been wondering the Promenade in his un-tucked, grey shirt and a pair of blue pants. He ran his hand through his hair as he started to pass by the nightclub. This was a place that he couldn't wait to get into. But for now, he had to wait. He crossed in front of the doors and nearly bumped into someone coming out. "Oh, hey, I'm sorry, I didn't... ohhh..." He grinned as he stared into the face of someone he didn't expect to see again, but was very, very glad he did. "Ailyssa, it's great to see you again. And," he paused and looked at her, "wow."

Ailyssa gave him a cat that ate the canary smile that exposed a hint of fang-like eye teeth, her blue eyes sparkling. "I'm a bit disappointed," she said teasingly. "I travel light years and nearly had to deal with a Ferengi to get my club set up just so I could surprise you...and I get a it's great to see you." She reached out and caressed his chest. "All my hopes and dreams of you falling to my feet in worship...shattered."

Shivers ran up his spine as she touched him. "Aily-cat," he said grinning, "This should work for a more proper reunion." He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. "There you go. And we'll take care of your hopes and dreams later. Now," he said taking her hand, "what's this about a Ferengi? Am I going to have to take some leave and make a visit?"

She returned the kiss and her eye teeth nipped his bottom lip before she pulled back and met his hazel eyes. "Almost, I said. Fortunately, I found another backer for the club, so there's no need to take a leave. Unless you want to do it so we can make the reunion more proper."

Michael grinned and licked his bottom lip. "Don't ever change. Mee-yow." He winked at her and continued, "Alright, so no having to beat up a Ferengi. I won't have to take leave for that," he said, putting his arm around her waist and patting her backside, "Deck Fifteen, Room Zero-Four-Two-One-One. I work Alpha Shift, so I'm off at four. Anytime you want, Aily-cat." The big flirt gently squeezed her backside a little and asked, "So how does my purrr-fect little Ailyssa like her new club?"

Ailyssa chuckled at his pet names for her and continued to caress his chest. "Mmm...it's a work in progress," she said after a moment of thought. "I've invested so much in it from the model of the one I worked near the Academy, but as I haven't officially opened it, I have no opinion if it needs work or if it's purrrfect that way it is." She looked up at him. "I know what your room number is, Michael, what your shift is, who you answer to and why you can't sleep at night."

The two just stood there, talking, her hands on his chest, his hands on her waist and backside. Michael didn't give a flying Ferengi who was walking by or who saw them. He hadn't been near Ailyssa for a very long time. Too long. But that was about to change. "You've been doing your research, haven't ya?" he asked grinning. Some might have thought that to be stalkerish, but not him. Michael thought it was, well, it didn't bother him at all. She was unique and he liked unique. "And just what makes you think I don't sleep well at night?"

"Always," she said with a mysterious smile as she took one of his hands and walked backwards through the door to her club. "Because I haven't been near you, Michael," she answered him once the door closed behind him. Dim lighting obscured most of the club, but the lights over the bar gave enough light and shadow to make the majority of it a mystery.

Michael let her lead him into the yet unopened club. "Well, I'll grant you that, Ailyssa. It's been...interesting." He smiled down at her. "Tossing and turning, waking up anywhere from thirty minutes to one hour before the computer wakes me up...I've had a few of them. But Security on this monster of a ship keeps me pretty busy. So I'm pretty tired at the end of the day." He noticed the dim lighting and the aura of mystery in the place as they walked on in. "But work tired is not the same as Aily-cat tired," he added with a wink.

"I'm sorry they work you so hard, Michael," Ailyssa said before she released his hand and sashayed to the bar. She reached behind it for two bottles and two glasses without turning and began to make a drink. "As for Aily-cat tired....well, only when I'm restless and feel the need to prowl. Sadly, all of my prowling has been for not since we last parted company."

He watched her make her way to the bar and grinned. But it wasn't until she reached behind it that he shook his head. He unbuttoned the cuffs on his sleeves and rolled them up. Michael then pulled out a chair at a nearby table and took a seat, pushing the chair opposite him out with his foot. "Hey, I said Aily-cat tired, not Aily-cat worn-the-hell-out. But it does me good to hear you say that. Because it means I'm not the only one feeling it. There's nobody like Ailyssa Wells."

She smiled as she brought the two glasses to where he sat and sat down across from him. She raised one long-nailed finger up and tapped it against the glass and the liquid instead mixed and glowed until it looked like a nebula, then she did to her own glass. "The only time I've ever been worn out is when you wore me out," she declared. "Enjoy the Nebula. It's a unique creation."

A half-grinned crawled across his lips as he listened to her. He watched as she tapped the glasses and the liquids mixed. Michael lifted the glass and took a long drink after watching if for a few seconds. "That is definitely unique. And not just the way it combines, but the taste. Is this something you picked up after we parted or have you just been keeping it in reserve?"

"It's a cross between a Stardrifter and a Risa Colada," Ailyssa told him as she took a drink of her own. "A girl can't tell all of her secrets. If I did, there wouldn't be anything to tell during pillow talk." She winked at him. "And contrary to what you may think, my research only let me go so far. The cons of being a civilian with a Starfleet man. I'm sure there's secrets locked away in that handsome mind of yours and in files I don't have access to, but I'm not interested in those. Only in you."

She paused to take another sip of the drink. "Tell me, Michael, how did you get lucky enough to be assigned to one of the biggest ships with the nicest toys in the entire fleet?"

"Hey, I don't mind the personal research. It just shows what you already said, you're only interested in me, not information. And guess I can let you keep some of your secrets. After all, you're right about the pillow talk." He took another drink of his delicious Nebula. "As for this assignment, beats me. I'm fresh from the Academy and get all the cool toys. That usually doesn't happen. So I think you got it right, lucky. It should look good on my record, though. Such a nice ship, I mean." He looked down at his glass and watched the liquid swirl. "So how do all these nice toys and tech affect your club?"

"Computer, activate Nebula One," Ailyssa said as she sat back. Immediately, the room changed into a star-filled nebula that rotated slowly with them at the center of it. "It's granted me the ability to do a few nice things like this. Have you ever danced among the stars, Michael?"

He watched the room change and then rotate around them. Michael set his glass down on what he remembered being his table and looked over. "No, I haven't, Ailyssa. But there's a first time for everything." He stood and reached for her hand.

"Computer, EDM Number Seven," she said as she took his hand with a smile. "Shall we dance among the stars, M'Lord?"

She stood and took his hand in hers with a smile.

"Let's, M'Lady," he said. He looked into her eyes as the music started and began dancing. "This is great," he called out. "Now imagine this place full of people, shoulder to shoulder in some places, letting the day's problems and issues fall off. You'll do great here. Heh, you'd do great anywhere."

Ailyssa began to gyrate her hips to the music while waving her hands above her head in sync as she listened to him. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said as the rest of the club faded into the nebula. "You're my first visitor. Do you really like it?"

"I do. I really like it a lot, Ailycat," he said. Michael put his arms out to his sides and moved them to the beat of the music as he gyrated his hips. He noticed the rest of the place fade away. It was just he and Ailysssa in this nebula along with the music. He had never expected his evening to take the turn it did, but he wouldn't change it for anything. He just enjoyed the music, the dancing, the club, and Ailyssa.

For a while, she contented herself to simply moving to the music and being close to him, almost losing herself in his eyes and the hypnotic swirl of the nebula around them as if they were the only two beings in the universe. When the song ended, Ailyssa looked at him. "Did you ever try to find me after you went on your senior cruise?" she asked him softly.

The song ended, but space still surrounded them. Michael took a few quick breaths to slow his breathing back down to a regular rthym as opposed to dancing. He hadn't danced like that in almost a month. "I did. After I got settled in to my regular duties on the cruise, I saw a couple girls over the course of a few months. They were great, but they weren't the flirt or the tease I that got used to." He paused and winked. "Oh, they accepted what I dished out just fine, but they couldn't return it in the same manner. Or more so, for that matter. They just weren't right. Several more months went by and that's when I started trying to find you. I hadn't had more fun hanging out and flirting and teasing and dancing with anyone as I had with you." He paused and started laughing. "I thought about that time we took a run up to the lake in the forest. Remember that? We had so much fun there. Anyway, I found out that you had moved on from there. That's when I lost track. When my senior cruise was over and I went back for graduation, I asked around to see if anyone knew where you went. Nada. Graduation, first assignment, and here we are."

Ailyssa listened to him and fought to repress a twinge of jealousy at the mention of other girls, but they had never been exclusive with each other. If anything, their intimate encounters were often sporadic and impulsive, but definitely special to her. She smiled at the memory of the run to the lake and remembered all the times they had spent together after that before he left on his senior cruise. "End program," she said and the club went back to how it had been before she activated the holo emitters.

"I thought about you a lot, Michael," she admitted. "In fact, I had gotten a contract gig on a few ships in the hopes of finding you but I would end up in one sector and you'd be in another. I won't say that I've been chaste the entire time or my normal flirty, teasing self...but you were and are the only one that's been special."

He watched the club return to it's dimly lit state and listened to Ailyssa. He nodded, realizing that's what had happened to her and why he lost track of her. She was on some ships. "Hey," he said, taking on a quieter demeanor, "you heard me admit that I hadn't been, either. But you said that I was special. You know, I guess that's why the other girls didn't fit me. Why they didn't seem right. They weren't you, Ailycat. They weren't you. And maybe that's why, because you're special."

Ailyssa retrieved her glass and took a sip, watching him over the rim for a moment before she set it down. "Is there anyone now?" she asked him while hoping that there wasn't.

"No," he said. "There isn't." He grabbed his glass and took a drink. "Do you want there to be?" he asked, shifting his leg under the table so that he rubbed hers.

For one of the first times in her life, she felt nervous around a male and she looked at him shyly. "Well," she said as she felt his leg rub against hers. "I heard there's a young lady who has a nightclub on the Promenade that you may like. She has blue eyes and brunette hair, a wicked tease, an outragous flirt and she doesn't have anyone. I think you and her might hit it off."

He looked over and smiled, waggling his eyebrows for a second. "She sounds like my kinda girl, then." He continued rubbing her leg. "And I absolutely love brunettes. You need to introduce me to her. C'mon."

"What's in it for me?" Ailyssa asked him with a coy smile as she teased the rim of her glass with one fingernail, causing a light chime.

Michael looked the brunette sitting in front of him and grinned widely. "A proper reunion."

"Proper?" she asked while arching an eyebrow. "Here I thought I knew you better."

"Yeah," he said. "We, uh, were talking about a proper reunion earlier when we ran into each other." Michael was somewhat caught off guard, but then shrugged it off as an effect of the Nebula they were drinking. "Well, I tell you what. Why don't we have dinner sometime and you can get to know me better. How's that?"

A laugh escaped Ailyssa's lips and she reached up to pull him down so she could plant a long, hot kiss on his lips. "I think our ideas of proper are in different directions, Mister Donovan," she said in a husky voice. "Starfleet has rewired your brain and it's up to me to fix it, but I have a solution."

Michael thoroughly enjoyed the kiss. It brought memories swimming back to the front of his mind about their last encounter, before he left on his senior cruise. When she pulled back, he exhaled and slowly shook his head. "I like it when you fix things, Ailycat. Your solutions are to die for. Though I wouldn't, 'cause I'd miss your fixes."

She chuckled and took a step back from him. "I'm in Eleven nine four three seven," she told him. "Come by in an hour and I'll slip into something comfortable and we can catch up on old times. Dinner will be my treat."

"Got it," he said. "An hour it is, then, in room Eleven nine four three seven. And I can't wait for dinner." Michael was glad that Ailyssa had been able to track him down and get the club on the Triumphant. He really missed their times together, hanging out and all. And now that he knew who the owner of the club was, he might frequent it more often than he had planned. He smiled and winked at the playful brunette.

"Until then?" Ailyssa asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.

He saw her face, her eyes, and took a step towards her to close the distance. "Until then, Ailyssa." And with that, he winked and reached around to gently swat her backside. Smiling he turned and walked to the doors, running a hand through his hair.

---

An hour later, Ailyssa stepped out of her small bathroom in the civilian quarters wearing a short black dress that showed off her shoulders and legs. Crossing to her dresser, she put on a pair of turquoise earrings, then headed to place an order from The Black Hole for the two of them and a pitcher of Prosecco, then settled down to wait.

Michael had walked the Promenade for a little while longer. And in all honesty, he couldn't get Ailyssa off his mind since he had run into her. Michael decided it would be best to head back and change. When he arrived back at his quarters, Michael put on a different shirt, rolling the sleeves partially to reveal some of his tattoos. He also unbuttoned the first couple of buttons below the collar. After he checked himself in the mirror, he headed out the door and to Ailyssa's quarters.

He was standing outside her door and pushed the chime.

The door chimed and Ailyssa's heart beat double-timed before she calmed herself down and went to the door. To her relief and disappointment, it was her double order of Stuffed Mushrooms and Crab Cakes appetizers, a twelve ounce steak sirloin, garlic mashed potatoes, rolls and green beans for Michael and a Seafood Platter, coleslaw, rolls and a salad for herself, along with the pitcher of Prosecco arrived. To top it off, she had ordered some chocolate cheesecake strawberries for dessert and hoped he liked what she had ordered. She thumbed the PADD to transfer the credits, then set the food down on the table and nearly had a heart attack as the chime rang a second time.

A young man wearing the uniform of The Black Hole walked past Michael and gave a friendly nod as he headed back to the most popular restaurant on the ship.

She checked her dress and went to open the door with a smile when she saw that it was Michael. "Hello, handsome," she said. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it on time."

He grinned and winked. "Hey gorgeous," he checked her out in her little black dress, "and I do mean gorgeous. I wouldn't be late to dinner with you. So, am I gonna get to eat out here or in there," he asked, gesturing to the inside of her room.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ailyssa said. "Please come in." She stepped aside with a blush at having blocked the door, but he looked like dessert and she nearly forgot everything.

Michael looked at her as he walked in. "You know, I don't believe I've ever seen you blush before." He stepped inside just enough for the doors to close. Then he leaned in, put a hand behind her head, and pressed a kiss to her lips. Pulling back, he said, "You really do look gorgeous, Ailycat."

She smiled after she returned the kiss. "Thank you and you look very handsome yourself, Michael. I hope you like what I ordered for us," she said as she indicated the meal still in the containers The Black Hole had sent them in. "I ever got some dessert."

"Oh I'm sure I will," he said, looking over to the containers. "Why don't we go enjoy it while it's still hot. Your quarters, so after you." He quickly looked around the civilian quarters. They weren't really that bad. Then he brought his attention back to Ailyssa.

Her apartment was modest for a single person civilian quarters and had a small kitchenette to the right of the living room with a soft looking black couch, a coffee table, and end table and an easy chair, and another room leading off to the left side for the bedroom and bathroom. She had a few knick knacks scattered around, mainly of cats and owls, and a small dining area that she led him towards.

"So what do you think about the ship so far, Michael?" Ailyssa asked as she poured two glasses of Prosecco for them and sat down.

Michael took a seat at the table in the dining area. "Huge," he said. "This ship is huge. I feel like it would take months for me to explore the whole thing. And the technology...I'm just glad I'm not an engineer and have to keep it all running." He picked up the glass and swirled the liquid. "This was what again?"

"It is called Prosecco," she told him. "I agree with the size of the ship and I'm glad that I only have to deal with my club instead of being in a department. No offense to you. I've heard there's two hundred personnel in every department and even more in Security."

"No offense taken," he said. Michael raised the glass to his lips and took a sip. "Very good. And yeah, there's hundreds in Security. With a ship this big, you need a large amount of Security personnel. There's regular patrols, guard duty, and...and, well, Security stuff. What about you? I know getting your club up and running has probably been a lot of work. Have you had to do most of it yourself or has the ship provided you help?"

Ailyssa laughed as she opened the containers and handed him his steak dinner. "If I had tried to do it all myself, it wouldn't be ready to open for another two years. Operations and Engineering played a huge role in getting me set up," she told him. "I know a little about the holographics, such as how to enter the new programs and how to activate them and control the music, but the rest...no. I couldn't even lift some of the couches and equipment that was beamed in. I did the outline and purchased everything and Starfleet did the rest."

Michael chuckled. "Yeah, I guess if I'd have thought about it, huh." He looked down at his dinner. "Ailyssa...steak, mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans...how did you know I was a meat and potatoes man?" Then he eyed her, "Or did you remember from the last time we ate together?"

She looked at him. "I remember everything about you, Michael," she said as she uncovered her seafood platter. "And when I say everything, I mean everything. What do you remember about me the most?"

He was about to cut into his steak when she asked him about his memories of her. He put the utensils down and looked at her. "You can climb a tree pretty good when you want to. You like to run. And actually gave me a run for my money once. You also love Ktarian chocolate puffs. Oh, and the tattoos. I remember the tattoos. No way in the world I could forget those."

"I was actually thinking about getting some more," Ailyssa said before she picked up a shrimp and popped it in her mouth. After she chewed and swallowed it, she took a sip of the pink beverage and looked at him. "You gave me a nice run, too. All the way around. It's why I couldn't get you out of my mind and tried to find you. You're like no one I've ever met before."

He cut a few bites of his steak as he listened, then smiled. "I'm glad you found me, Ailyssa. I tried to hunt you down. I tried hard. But when I lost track of you, I couldn't pick your scent up again." Then he took a deep breath through his nose. "I'll never lose it again, though." He smiled. "It took me a while, Ailyssa, to realize how much I missed spending time with you back then. How much I missed you. You're unique and I like unique. There's also mystery in unique. Mystery keeps me on my toes." He took a bite of his steak, followed by the Prosecco.

She gave him a warm smile as she listened to his words and knew that he meant them. She reached over to take one of his hands after he set the drink down and met his hazel eyes with her blue ones. "Then I guess there's only one thing left for me to do, isn't there?"

He smiled when she took his hand and then eyed her when she said what she did. "I suppose there is," he said. He looked from their hands to her eyes, not letting out one iota of curiosity as to what she was talking about.

For a moment, Ailyssa toyed with the idea of asking him if he really knew what she was talking about, but she was nervous enough. "Will you be mine, Michael?"

Michael put his fork down slowly. She had certainly caught him off guard, but it wasn't a bad off guard. He put his other hand over theirs and looked straight into her eyes. "If there wasn't a table full of food between us right now, I'd lay a kiss on you like you've never had before, Ailyssa. And I've kissed you pretty intensely." He patted their hands. "Yeah, I'll be yours. Yours and only yours. We're gonna have so much fun they won't know what to do with us on this ship. But if worse comes to worse," he winked, "I can get us out of the brig." A thought struck him right then. Something that Lucia had said earlier in the day on their way to the phaser range. He continued smiling and brushed it off to the side for now. Because that's all there was...the now.

"Are you saying that even though you'll be mine....you're letting a table of food come between us, Michael?" She said, now teasingly as her heart pounded in her chest at his words. "I may need someone else to get me out of the brig if I punched you for not getting up and coming around to kiss me."

Michael never said a word. He just grinned. It was that grin that she would've known all too well. That flirty, teasing, sideways grin that said hold on to your seat. He released her hand, got up, walked around the table, pulled her chair out from it, and slid her around to face him. He put hand on the back of her neck and another on the back of the chair as he slowly lowered his lips to hers. He paused for a moment, looking into her eyes. Then he madly pressed a kiss to her lips, tilting her head back and holding it with his hand. When pulled back a minute later, he stood up and said, "Gonna punch me now, Ailycat?"

Her arms went around him and she gave herself to him in the kiss and took a moment to recover after he pulled back. She was flushed and her heart pounded in her chest as it rose and fell. "Why..." she managed. "...would I ever do that, Michael?"

He looked down at her and continued smiling. "That's my girl." He noticed her cheeks a little more rosy than before and put his hand on one of them. "A little warm are we? Been a long time since I've had that effect on a girl. Back about...yeah, before my Cadet cruise. Hot little brunette. Anyway," he slid her chair back around, "dinner's getting cold." He patted her shoulder and walked back to his chair.

Ailyssa gave a soft laugh and smiled. "You tend to have that effect on women," she said as she settled down again. "Of course, I've noticed the effect that I have on you, too." She moved to her lobster and took a bite of it. "And Michael?"

He had settled back down and taken a bite of his green beans. "Hey, I'm not going to disagree with you. You most definitely have an effect on me. Uh, yes, Ailyssa?"

"Thank you. For everything," she said. "I don't know where I would have been if I hadn't met you. I had no direction in my life at the time and then I met you. A wonderful rogue of a man who kept me smiling and on my toes, just striving to stay one step ahead of you. It was enough to send me off the Earth to try to find you and a lot of hours just thinking about you and the times that we spent together. Now that I've found you again, I don't ever want to let you go."

He swallowed his bite of mashed potatoes. Everything she said, he believed. She was more than sincere in her words. "You're a special young woman. And you're welcome, for everything. I'm glad you think of me as the one who brought direction to into your life. That's... that's a first. No one has ever said anything like that about me before. I've always been a leaf on the wind, blowing wherever it takes me. And I really enjoy spending time with you. Always have and always will. And now that we're on the same ship, every night at the club you'll see me. You've found me, Ailyssa, and you don't have to worry about losing me again." He took another bite of steak.

"Space is now our home and the solar winds will blow us together in the direction that they see fit," Ailyssa said somewhat poetically before she speared an oyster and swallowed it. "Do you know, that was one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me?"

"The solar winds, I like that," he said. "And no, I didn't know that. I'd have thought that a lot of people had said a lot of sweet things to you before."

"There's a difference between saying something like that and meaning it, Michael," she said as she cut a piece of crab cake off and ate it.

He swallowed a bite of mashed potatoes and took a drink. "I mean it, Ailyssa. Really." He sat there for a few seconds and watched her. "I've never met anyone like you before. You're real. There's no facade, no pretense with you. And you've managed something that no one else has."

"I have?" Ailyssa asked as she took a sip of her drink. "What would that be?"

"You've gotten into my mind and I can't get you out," Michael replied. "You caught the leaf on the wind." He took another bite of his steak and winked at her.

She gave him a soft smile, her blue eyes twinkling. "How can one leaf on the wind catch another if we're on the same current?"

He smiled and took a deep breath. "Then like you said earlier, let us see where the current takes us as we float along together." He blew a kiss across the table to her and took another drink. "Do you have more of this deliciousness?" he asked.

"Only the pitcher sitting in front of you," Ailyssa said as she tried not to giggle. "Or have you had too much already?"

Michael looked down at the pitcher, to his glass, and back to Ailyssa. "Well, what do you know about that? Usually I can hold it better than this." He laughed as he picked up the pitcher and refilled his glass. "Although, I'll swear that I was distracted by sweetness incarnate. Or this hotness incarnate? Yeah, hotness." Michael wasn't easily embarrassed, but his simplistic screw up caused a slight color difference in his cheeks.

"Very nice save, Mister Donovan," she chuckled with a bow of her head. "In fact, I haven't see a save like that in a very long time. For that, I'll feed you dessert myself when it's time."

"Why thank you, Miss Wells," he said, bowing his head. "I'm glad I could be of service. And will most certainly look forward to being fed dessert by you. I wonder, maybe we could share the experience and I could feed you some of it, too."

"A man who's willing to share, too? I think I've found paradise in you, Michael," Ailyssa said as she popped another oyster in her mouth.

"I'll only share with you from now on, Ailycat," said Michael. "Dessert, dinner, whatever. Speaking of dinner, how's your seafood?"

"Incredible," she said. "You know the other crab cake and stuffed mushrooms are for you, too, don't you? I didn't want to order too much, but they're too good to pass up. The Black Hole serves the best food on the entire ship."

"Oh. No, I didn't realize that," said Michael. "Thanks." He reached over and cut a piece of crab cake. "Oh wow, that's really good," he said after swallowing the bite. "I haven't been to The Black Hole that much or ordered from there. Most of the time I just replicate something." He took a stuffed mushroom and enjoyed every flavor as the meshed in his mouth.

"They don't replicate anything," Ailyssa told him as she reached for a stuffed mushroom after he did. "I haven't actually been there, but I've ordered from them almost every day since I found out about them. I heard the owner is married to a Marine who is the Captain's brother. Sounds like the start of a joke, doesn't it?"

Michael started chuckling. "Yeah, it does sound like a joke. But you're right, this is really good food. I think I might treat myself to their menu a little more often. It sure beats replicator food." He cut a small piece of crab cake and a small piece of steak and put both small pieces in his mouth. Michael liked trying new things as far as food, but that particular combination wasn't one he was going to try again. "So you said that you got some contracts on a couple different ships when you were looking for me. Tell me about those."

She thought for a moment. "There was the Pegasus which was a Sovereign class. It wasn't bad, but they only wanted me to run karaoke in the lounge three nights a week and expected me to cook the other four night. I ended up on a station a bit abruptly after that when the Captain accused me of trying to poison him. From there, I went to the Thunderbird and had a decent gig as a holo jockey in their holodecks, but they had control of the content and I ended that contract as soon as I could."

Ailyssa paused to pour herself another drink and took a sip. "After that, I was contracted to the Solace which was a hospital ship. They thought I did soothing music that would help their patients and didn't even listen to the samples that I had sent. Needless to say, that didn't work out. Now I'm here. What did you do on your senior cruise?"

He sat back for a second and put his arms behind his head. "Brig duty was where I was assigned. It was pretty boring most of the time. But there was that one time when the ship encountered a transport that was in the process of being pirated. To make a long story short, Cardassian pirates are an obnoxious bunch. I had to guard some of them in the Brig. And then there were the regular patrol duties. Which wouldn't have been as bad if I didn't keep getting the Cadet quarters. They were always asking for favors. But overall, it wasn't bad."

"That sounds positively boring," she said. "I had a friend who ended up in the Gamma Quadrant and had to deal with all kinds of things happening. She made Ensign before she graduated and the Captain ended up requesting her on the ship after that."

He swallowed a bite of green beans before replying. "Oh man, that's amazing. Good for your friend, though," said Michael. "But the Gamma Quadrant, wow. That's out there. Oh, hey, what do we get to feed each other for dessert anyway?"

"Chocolate cheesecake strawberries," Ailyssa told him as she finished off her seafood and let out a very unladylike belch. She blushed, then burst into a fit of laughter and nearly fell off of her chair.

Michael had just taken the last bite of the crab cake and stuffed mushrooms when Ailyssa belched. He wasn't sure what to do right away, but then she started laughing. And then he started to laugh...with a mouthful of partially chewed crab cake and stuffed mushrooms. He grabbed his napkin and put it over his mouth to catch the majority of it. Unfortunately, a couple pieces of crab and mushroom escaped. When he finally got settled down and his food swallowed, he said, "Chocolate cheesecake strawberries...that sounds terrific. Where are they? I'll get them."

"So sexy," she deadpanned when he got settled down. "They're on the table by the door. I didn't have enough hands to get everything set up before you arrived."

"Heh, you too, sweetheart," he added with a smirk. Michael then got up and went to get the chocolate cheesecake strawberries. As he walked back to the table, a thought crept in and he smiled. Michael set the box on the table, removed a strawberry, and set if off to the side. He then pulled her chair around as he had done before and quickly moved his chair over to face her. Then he picked up the strawberry and leaned in, holding it near her mouth. "Here you go, Ailycat."

Ailyssa smiled as she leaned in to take half the strawberry in her mouth and neatly bit it in half and pulled back. When she had chewed and swallowed the tasty dessert, she looked at him. "You never cease to amazing me, Michael."

He watched her and smiled. Feeding her dessert was fun. He kinda wished he had done it back then. But then it might have lost it's allure now. "Oh?" he said. "How so?"

"Feeding me dessert when I was the one who was supposed to be feeding them to you," she said as she picked one up and offered it to him.

He smiled and winked. "Then feed away, sweetheart. Feed away." He opened his mouth and bit most of the strawberry. As he chewed, he rolled eyes back and groaned. He swallowed it and said, "Ohh, that was delicious...strawberry, chocolate, and cheesecake...wow." He eyed her. "Give me another."

Ailyssa shook her head and got up with the dessert tray. "If you want them," she said. "You'll have to come get them." With that, she gave him a sexy smile and headed for her bedroom.

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