Star Trek: Starbase 777 - acos：lt-cdr-whidbey

To: Lt Whidbey From: Lt So Subject: Congrats! Hi Austin! Good to seem you climbing the ranks so fast, I remember running into you after the pirate attack. Feels like forever ago doesn't it? Anyway, you really deserve all these promotions and I look forward to working along side you! Let me know if you wanna go get dinner some time to celebrate this. Lilian So

To: @Lilian So From: Lieutenant Whidbey Hey, it's good to hear from you. It certainly had been a while. Now that we are serving together, I certainly see occasion to have a dinner. As far as a promotion goes though it was more lateral then anything since I was allready CoS on the station. Still its a fair occasion to celebrate, I'm hopeful it will begin a new chapter for me. I'm definitely excited to serve with you and the rest of the crew. -Austin Whidbey

D: Austin slowly rose out of bed and then immediately ran through his morning physical exercise pretty quickly. 50 push ups, 25 situps, and then some quick lifting. He flipped on an audio book as he showered to get himself mentally awake aswell. By the time he stepped out of the shower and quickly styled his hair he was prepared for everything ahead of him.

To: @Austin┊Del┊Jack┊Jerry From: Lieutenant Ava Lopez

Hey, Austin, this is Ava. What are you up to?

To: @Deleted User From: Lieutenant Austin Whidbey

nothing much, I'm just reading a book What are you up to?

The reply came immediately. To: Lieutenant Austin Whidbey From: Lieutenant Ava Lopez

Bored in the labs. I was just thinking about you. I mean, about how crazy it is that we met again.

He leaned back in his bed with a little smile. He then wrote his reply almost just as fast. To: Lieutenant Ava Lopez From: Lieutenant Austin Whidbey

yeah for sure, I mean what are the odds that we'd end up both going into starfleet and both being stationed in the exact same place. Its just crazy to me you know? Any chance you'd want to do something together if youre bored?."

To: Lieutenant Austin Whidbey From: Lieutenant Ava Lopez

You kidding? when have I ever not wanted to do something with you? I can’t leave the labs for another few minutes tho.

Austin wrote up his message and then immediately jumped out of bed to get dressed. To: Lieutenant Ava Lopez From: Lieutenant Austin Whidbey

How about I just meet you up there then?

To: Lieutenant Austin Whidbey From: Lieutenant Ava Lopez

Sounds great! I’ll be waiting. Chem science labs.

(edited)

Austin layed in bed without much of anything better to do he decided to pen a letter to his dad. He decided fondly though to get a little poetic with it. Maybe one day he could write his memoirs or something. [PADD Message] From: Austin To: Dad Dear dad, My work on the Eventide hasn't been very interesting so far, while they take down secret organization I've found that my greatest enemy is time. Recently though I've found quite an interesting way to combat the time. You remember that girl who used to come to the island, Ava? Well she's back in my life again. It's been quite an interesting ride so far. At first I just couldn't get over how she had treated me, I wanted to hate her so much. After all she had essentially betrayed me. It was odd though, it's almost as if I could feel the emotion behind her apology and her story. We've fallen back in line quick and now, we're essentially inseparable yet again. It's almost strange how life is like that sometimes.

1

It was a late night back on San Juan Island, it was raining yet again like it did almost every night this time of year in Washington. Wally was stuck doing paper work in his office when he heard the familiar chime of his PADD, a message from his son to break up the monotony of being a small town sheriff. He felt a dismay as he read his sons message, the girl who broke his precious sons heart back for more. [PADD Message] From: Sheriff Whidbey To: Austin I remember her allright, she practically broke your heart. That last summer, you kept saying you were going to ask her out but you never found yourself able to. There's always next summer you always said. I for one was just happy that you were happy being around her. Then next summer roled around and she never came back. I remember you spending your nights hoping she'd come back and even crying at times. I felt almost horrible for you, you felt horrible. The point is that you should be naive, you shouldn't let her break your heart again. I'm not sure you can handle it after what happened with Vanessa...

1

Austin almost threw his PADD into the wall at the mention of her name. Austin was the kind of guy who just tried to repress things like that. Reading that name though just made him feel horrible. The love of his life, killed in his own arms. The memory stung more then any phaser shot or stab wound he had ever faced. From: Austin To: Dad Don't you mention her name, you now how I feel about that. With Ava though, it's not like that this time around. She's a Starfleet officer now, a Lieutenant even. It doesn't need to end like last time, she's here now and we're friends again. That's all that matters to me, you know she used to be my best friend and now we're spending every day together again, we're not kids anymore, this time her mother can't take her away.

2

Wally frowned slightly, his son was an emotional man, atleast underneath the facade he always put in place as a security chief. Really he just wanted his son to be happy. As Wally saw it Austin should be back home on the island as a Sheriff. He could succeed him and he could be his happy self. All the trauma he had seen Austin go through it honestly pained him more then anything. From: Sheriff Whidbey To: Austin Son, please don't be naive. I know how you are, you get too caught up in your emotion too quick. It's not really a problem infact it's one of the things I loved about your mother, I just want you to be careful you know? Just promise me you'll stay safe and take things easy, allright. I love you son.

2

Austin sighed, this is just sort of how he and his dad tended to speak. He wasn't mad or anything and he knew his dad wasn't either. Austin was perhaps slightly dismayed that his dad still considered him naive. After all he was the one out exploring the universe while his dad never really left Earth except on the rare vacation. From: Austin To: Dad I'll try my best to be careful, I know how to handle things though. I promise you though dad, I'll be as careful as I can be. I really do think she's changed for the better though, I can just feel it. I love you dad.

5

While Avas roleplayer was distracted talking about her favourite show, Austin's roleplayer busily went to work describing Austin's room. *Upon entry she would notice that he had built himself a little expanded kitchen set up in his room. Cooking some food from home always seemed to make him feel a little better. Along the side the walls was a couple pictures, most notably that of him and his dad along with some landscapes of home. Just like he had described there was a large bookshelf filled with hardcovers of each book he had read since he arrived at the station. The collection had nearly reached 40 in just the few months he had been here. (Mostly oweing to his need for escapism when he was feeling down.)

The reason behind the bookshelf was sad, but Ava loved the multitude of books and she marveled at it. “Wow, nice collection,” she said and then looked at the pictures — reminding her of San Juan — as well as the kitchen. “We need to cook sometime.”

He smiled at that. "I would love to! I've been able to start getting food brought over from earth because I know a guy in the quartermasters office." He snuck over to his fridge and opened it, gesturing to some crab. "My dad sent me these."

“Oh! That’s so cool!” Her eyes lit up. “Would you like to make them tomorrow?” It was already too late in the evening now, but she’d love to have some crab for dinner the next day.

"Sure!" He didn't mind having some company for dinner. The more people he could share a nice dinner with the better, especially if Ava was the person he was sharing it with.

“It’s a date then! Well, not a date,” she said, as she noticed How That Sounded. “You know what I mean. I’ll be there.”

He smirked at her. "If you want it to be a date just say so." He teased his friend. He then laughed at the idea even though he wouldn't have been opposed to it. "I'll see you then."

Ava took his comment as a joke and chuckled. “I’ll see you, too, Austin! Don’t eat the crabs in a nightly eating frenzy.”

He made a fake pleading gesture. "They would be such a good midnight snack though."

Ava was laughing as she left his quarters.

On a slow morning Austin sluggishly got out of bed. He checked the time, he had anouther two hours until his next shift. He ran through his morning routine which included a healthy amount of exercise and cleaning himself up. He was about to do some reading on his PADD when he noticed a message from his Dad.

[PADD Message] From: Sheriff Whidbey To: Austin Hey son I just wanted to check in with you again. I'm not sure if we left off on the best terms after our last set of messages. I also wanted to know if the crabs I sent reached you fine, crabing season went really well here and I wanted to send you some of the haul. I'll probably also try to send you some Salmon assuming your mother doesn't eat it all. Anyways, Message me in the morning. With love, Dad

Austin jumped back into bed, PADD in hand so he could prepare to type up a response. After anouther great day with Ava he was unsure if he should bring her up again. Nervously though he admitted to himself that he needed to tell his dad about the upcoming shoreleave. [PADD Message] From: Austin To: Dad Good morning Dad, I hope the island is just as beautiful as ever today (even with all the tourists stinking up the place.) On the topic of tourists, I have a shoreleave coming up and I wanted to bring some along with me. It would just be me, a couple friends, and Ava ofcourse. You know nothing too crazy, I hope that's all cool I got the crab by the way, I'm planning on cooking some of it up tonight. I'll probably send over some pictures when I'm done. Thanks again dad!

3

[PADD Message] From: Sheriff Whidbey To: Austin Great segway right there son, I see though that you are spending more time with Ava. I'm fine with you bringing people to the island but don't expect me to not try and see through her. I still think you shouldn't trust her as much as you seemingly do. I'm sure she'll love seeing the island again though. I'll make sure I clean her up a spare bedroom.

[PADD Message] From: Austin Whidbey To: Dad I know you're against her coming and I can tell when you are secretly unhappy however I appreciate that you're atleast trying to make an effort. She's been through a lot so please just try and be nice to her. Just don't make things too obvious that you're investigating her because I know full well I won't be able to stop you.

4

[PADD Message] From: Sheriff Whidbey To: Austin I don't plan on investigating her, I just don't trust her around you is all. I'll be nice, I know how to put on a nice face. I'm not sure your mother will be able to do the same, you know she's just as protective if not more protective of you then I am. You're an adult and you can make your own decisions but that doesn't mean we won't try to help.

3

Austin tossed aside his PADD, he just wasn't even going to respond to that. 'I just don't trust her around you' he loved his dad but Jesus did the idea of his dad having to trust people around him made him somewhat irritated. Once he was up instead of his normal audio book he popped in some upbeat music, he had time this morning to take it out on a punching bag and thats what he was going to do.

[D] A message appeared on @Austin┊Del┊Jack┊Jerry's PADD.

To: Lieutenant Austin Whidbey From: Fleet Admiral Xaav'ax Aisut Subject: Meeting Lieutenant, You are requested in the Conference Room on the Operations Ring aboard the starbase at your earliest convenience. - Fleet Admiral Xaav'ax Aisut, Head of Security, Starfleet.

(edited)

Whidbey had been laying back when he saw the message from the admiral. It was right after he had been contacted by his dad. "Shit." He muttered to himself. If someone as high on the chain as Xaav was calling Austin had probable screwed something up. Even still it was never good to leave an admiral waiting. He did his hair quickly and shot off a very fast message. [PADD Message] To: Fleet Admiral Xaav'ax Aisut From: Austin Whidbey

Admiral, I'll be there in only a few minutes. I'm on my way now, I'll just need to make it over from. -Lieutenant Austin Whidbey Chief of Security, USS Eventide.

Austin got back to his room and immediately changed outfits. He for a rare occasion decided to wear his nicest dark blue suit. He always thought it matched his eyes pretty well. He decided to put the pips along the left side of his collar. Perhaps dressing up like this was overkill for a small dinner with just Ava and his suit would get dirty when he cooked but he wanted to celebrate really bad. He had set up the dinner the night before without knowing the occasion when Ava arrived he hoped she'd be just as excited.

[D] Just then, there was a ring at the door. Ava was on time. Punctuality hadn’t been her stong suit in the past, but Styre had annoyed her about it for so long, she had picked it up by now.

ooooo she was on time, on the island she was normally way late. She must've been pretty excited. Opening the door he gave her a little bow. "Welcome to casa de Whidbey." He stepped to the side so she could fully see him suit, pips, and all.

Ava was actually dressed more simplistic and casual than him, though not unstylish. She was wearing a white t-shirt, flowy blue trousers, and a blue jacket which was cut like a leather jacket, but actually made of a silky material. She was also wearing a nose piercing with tiny inlaid diamonds and a Bajoran earring. She had a hand bag around her shoulder. Her hair was put up in a bun, as usual. “Hola, mi amigo!”, she said enthusiastically, as the role player found herself questioning why all of her characters somehow spoke Spanish. “Love the outfit.” The suit looked great on him! And then she blinked. “Wait… what are those…?” She squinted at the pips. (edited)

He kept a neutral expression across his face as he ran a finger down the 3 pips near his neck. The feeling of the third one still felt almost foreign to him. He decided to take a joking approach to things. "Oh these, these are nothing, nothing at all." He paused for a moment before a massive smile grew on his face. He was clearly excited to finally tell her. "You just better get ready to start referring to me Lieutenant Commander Amigo."

Ava’s brown eyes widened with excitement. “Lieutenant Commander?! You got promoted? Oh, my God! That’s amazing for you! Prophets, I’m so happy for you,” she grinned, “We really picked the right night then, we’ve got something to celebrate!”

He almost hugged her out of a want to celebrate. "I didn't even see it coming at all! I just got a message from the admiral and he was all like report to the conference room." He seemed to be in good humor about things. "I honestly thought I was about to be discharged or forced out of here but then... I got promoted!"

“Austin, why would someone wanna discharge you? You’re good at what you do!” She smiled. “As proven by the fact that you were promoted. Oh, by the way…” She grabbed her bag and pulled out a bottle. “I brought wine. In hindsight, it should have been champagne maybe.” She held it out for him to take.

He took a second to examine the label on the bottle. "Looks good! I can't wait to split it with you." He then walked around to the back of his little cooking station and pulled out the bag of crab. "How exactly should we cook these?"

“How about boiling them with butter sauce,” said Ava, true to whatever the role players had spoken about in DMs. She set the wine down on the table in the living room and then followed Austin to the kitchen station.

Austin began the slow process of filling up a pot with water to put over the stove. "Any chance you could pass me a glass of wine. I am honestly so partched after running back here out of excitement from the conference room."

Ava chuckled. She could imagine that. “Yeah, I’ll get us two glasses.” She got wine glasses from the replicator, opened the bottle with her convenient Vulcan strength and poured both of them a glass. It was red wine, medium quality, but it’ll have to do. She wasn’t picky when it came to wine, as long as it was relatively sweet, which it was. She took one glass for herself and handed the other one to Austin. “There you go. Anything I can do?”

He thought for a second, what could he have her do. "If I remember you used to be pretty good at making appetizers and sides. Why don't you whip up something to go with the crab for the both of us." He turned the water up to a boil and seasoned it as he waited. Then he took a sip from his glass. A tad too sweet for his tasted but hey it wasn't quite bad and if Ava liked it he would have to learn to like it.

“Aye aye, Commander,” she said jokingly and replicated some vegetables. She was going to prepare a salad with some roasted sunflower seeds and feta cheese.

He smirked at her and then went about settling 3 of the crabs into the pot (one of which was a midnight snack ofcourse. He needed to have his midnight crab.) He was eagerly looking over to try and get a hint as to what exactly she was making. Either way it looked good and healthy.

“So, how’s it feel being a Lieutenant Commander? Have you told your dad yet, I’m sure he’ll be proud,” said Ava, cutting up tomatoes and cucumbers and such.

"I actually haven't gotten the chance yet... should I video call him?" He smiled. "I'm sure he'll love to see that I'm cooking up the crab he sent me. Plus he'd be able to see you for the first time in over a decade." That last part was more of a nicety to Ava, his dad absolutely would not be excited to see Austin was hanging out with her even more.

Ava shrugged. “I don’t know, whatever you like! If you wanna talk to him about your promotion one-on-one, I’d understand that.”

He shrugged. "I guess I'll just wait then." He started taking a slow long sip from his wine. He took a few steps away from the stove to lean against the counter. Now he just needed to wait as the boiling water cooked through the crab. After a second though he got back up on his feet and snuck up behind Ava.* "You want some help with those veggies?"

Ava worked quitely with a content smile, until suddenly Austin loomed over her shoulder, asking to help. “Oh, um, sure!”, she said and gave him a second knife. “Mind cutting the carrots, Commander?”

"I suppose I could, Lieutenant." He put emphasis on the word Lieutenant, it was a false emphasis that made the word sound dirty. He then picked up the knife. "Allow me to show a junior officer how you do things like this."

Ava laughed and gave his shoulder a playful shove. “Now don’t get too full of yourself, Whidbey!” She grinned at him. This moment filled her with joy and a long forgotten sense of friendship.

"Heyyyyy your shoving the shoulder of a commander right there." Sometimes Austin didn't really know when to let a joke end but he began chopping up the carrots. He could feel a sense of joy perhaps just at being near her.

“You keep behaving so overbearing and I’ll get you demoted,” said Ava but it was all in good nature. She then replicated some ingredients for the salad sauce. “How are the crabs coming along?”

Austin finished up the carrots and then walked back over to the pot to check on it quickly. The crabs were starting to grow the brighter red collar that signified they were done but Austin could tell they needed just a bit longer. "It'll just be a few more minutes. They'll likely be done around the time your salad is finished up."

“Perfect,” said Ava, who had made the salad sauce in the meantime and was now mixing all the veggies and lettuce with it. She then took a pan and roasted some sunflower seeds to put over the salad later. “You wanna make the butter sauce for the crabs, then?”

"Oh yeah, it almost slipped myself entirely." He facepalmed and then quickly ran over to grab a stick of butter and a small pot to quickly melt it in. "That wasn't very commander like of me was it?"

“No, a truly terrible mistake of you. Guess it’s back to being Lieutenant,” said Ava humorously, watching as the seeds got slightly brown.

He smirked at her as the butter quickly began to melt. "Just don't you forget who can give who orders, even if I end up forgetting that aswell." He added on jokingly.

Ava rolled her eyes and took the cooking spoon, pointing it at him accusingly. “Careful, I’ll have you know that once I get that lab request patched through, I’ll be the one supervising you!”

He laughed. "I suppose you are the scientist between the two of us." He then switched to a slightly more serious note. "Given that I'm a full Lieutenant Commander now, do you think they are more likely to let me help?" He took the butter sauce off the stove and poured it into a small bowl as he talked.

“Probably,” she said with a shrug. “And I can maybe have Styre pull some strings if not. Did you know he bought a cat?” There was a smile on her lips, her tone was easy, conversational. She sprinkled the roasted seeds over the salad.

"Given what you've told me I wouldn't take Styre for a cat person. Though it is good that he is getting a pet like that." He said that as he placed his face above the boiling pot and stuck in a pair of tongs to pull out the crabs one by one.

“I wouldn’t have taken him for a cat person either,” let alone one who impulsively buys a cat when they’re sad, “but I have to say, I approve. Corruption is cute.” What a sentence.

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Corruption... is cute? You think the act of corruption is cute? I don't quite understand." Whidbey had a crab in one hand and a confused look on his face. He just didn't quite know what to say.

“Oh, wait— no. No,” she laughed out loudly and it took her a moment until she could even form a reply. “That’s Styre’s cat! We named it Corruption. He wanted to name him Cat, but I couldn’t have that and somehow Corruption is his name now.” She chuckled. “Sorry, I should have specified that!”

He decided to do his best Styre impression even though he wasn't good at impressions. "Hmmmm yes this cat looks like a cat that is a fitting name for such a thing." Honestly Austin probably came off as a bit rude to Styre but he didn't now the guy.

’A bit rude to Styre’ was kind of Ava’s thing and his impression made her double over with giggles. The context of Styre’s sadness would dim the mood, but she had to admit that it was still ridiculous of Styre to name his cat Cat. No amount of depression just justify that, honestly. “No, but that’s exactly what he thought, I swear,” she said with a grin. “The salad is ready by the way.”

He looked to his left and saw that he was still holding the last crab. That was the midnight snack crab so he just placed it back in the fridge. then he plated the other two and brought one plate over for each of them. "Did I catch you putting sunflower seeds in your salad before? I suppose that will be interesting to taste."

“Just something I do to add a little crunch. Very tasty,” she said, as she carried the salad bowl over to the table. “This smells amazing. We ready to eat?” It was clear to see she was eager. She’d always loved food. Honestly, Ava was a simple minded person; hand her food and she will eat it, hand her fish and she will keep them and name them.

Austin gave her the crab which luckily wasn't a fish because it would be weird to keep a cooked crab. "Yup! I can't wait to try you're salad." He eagerly placed some onto his plate, that would be as good of a place as any to start.

Once they’d settled together at the table and Ava had shovelled some salad on her plate and some butter sauce onto her crab, Ava started eating. “Hm, I haven’t had this in years,” she said, her enjoyment evident in her voice and the way she blissfully closed her eyes.

He took his bite out of the crab and his face immediately sunk with pure joy. "There really is nothing like some fresh crab from the island. My dad really hit the spot with this." He then tasted a bite out of Ava's salad. "Huh I guess there is something just as good, and it was made by a Lieutenant!"

“That is because the rank of Lieutenant is the ultimate superior,” said Ava with a smirk, eating away at her crab.

He shot a smirk back at her. "You seem to be enjoying the Lieutenant Commander style crab infront of you. You know no other Lieutenant has access to that."

“Enough rank talk!” She laughed. “More wine!” And then she poured more wine for both of them. God knows they needed it.

He laughed and then down the glass of wine quickly. It had been a while since he had drunk like this but if they were drinking he was going to drink. He then walked over to the pantry and found a more expensive bottle that he had imported. He handed it to Ava and responded "More wine." excitedly.

Ava laughed and took it from his hand. “Oh, I was not planning on getting drunk tonight, but oh well! We’ve got a lot to celebrate.” She poured his glass, hers was still half full with the cheaper wine. Then she ate some more crab and grinned.

"Allow me to raise a glass to the future." He raised his glass and then took a slow sip. This glass was definitely one for him to enjoy, he was just glad that he had someone to share it with though. "May it be better then the past."

“I’ll try everything I can to make it so,” said Ava softly, honestly; and she raised her own glass to clink it against his. “To the future, Austin. It’s so good to have you back.”

He smiled. "As will I, I truely never thought I'd see you again after you didn't show up that summer. I'm glad that we have share station together."

“Me too, Austin,” muttered Ava and took a sip of her sweet wine. She then returned to her food. “So, I guess this is the point where we share our life stories. Previously on Ava Lopez and Austin Whidbey,” she joked.

If he was going to tell his life story, he was going to do it right. He was going to pick up some of his pictures. He took a minute to walk around his toom and take a couple small frames off the wall. "Well after you left I ended up joining the police department with my dad for a little while but that didn't really scratch my itch for exploration so I went off to join the academy. After I finished up there I was on a old California class for a little while. After..." He paused and didn't keep going for a couple seconds but then recovered. "After the California class I was sent up to a parliament class where I got my own squad." He put a second picture infront of her. In this one Austin looked really happy. He always lived his squad.

Ava listened attentively, and watched as he took the pictures off the wall. It felt alienating and intimate at the same time to have him speak about his past like this. She felt like she should already know these things… God, she should have contacted him so much sooner. When he hesitated in his sentence, she blinked. It was like a little tug on her heart. She should have been there, in his life, in his story… why. Why hadn’t she? Why wasn’t she? Her eyes fell on the picture and it made her smile. He looked so happy. Oh, and he deserved it so much. “You look like you really enjoyed that,” she noted softly, eating a bit of her salad.

He seemed much happier now that he was thinking back on his time with his squad. "Oh yeah, me and the guys were really close. We still pretty much are, every so often one of them comes out to visit seeking advice or just wanting to hang out." He shrugged. "All of them have a standing invitation to the station whenever they want to come aboard. Anyways though that's where I was before I got to this station... though I've allready told you my troubles here." He blinked twice and then took a bite of his salad. It was still really good on a second try. "What about you? What have you been up to since all those years ago."

“Your friends seem nice,” said Ava and thought that maybe she’d be able to meet the one day. She was glad that Austin had found friends. Back in the day, they’d both been loners, clinging on to each other. Things had changed. “I already told you I was at the Newton Science Academy before I entered into Starfleet Academy,” she responded, “After my graduation, I worked on starbase 11. And then…” And then shit happened and she had to take a mental health break, but let’s not get into that. “After gaining experience in analytical chemistry, I was stationed on Silia 5, the underwater lab I told you about. There I met Lilly, wonderful coworker and friend, she’s taken over the lab as Chief of Science by now. And then after that I went to the Tyrga, a science vessel, where I met Styre amongst others. It’s been a wild ride, honestly. Lots of research and papers… My mother eventually married Ayala Roe, so that was nice. It’s been good, overall.” She gave him a smile.

He played with his wine in his hand, spinning the glass around slightly. He could tell something went down at Starbase 11, guessing that's probably what he sounded like talking about the event with Vanessa. He decided just to allow her to simply gloss over it. He was glad she had built a home over at Silia 5 even though he had allready heard about that he was happy to indulge her by listening intently. "I'm glad your mom found someone and I'm glad that things seemed to all turn out well for ya." Not to mention the fact that he was glad that it all ended with her being here. "You really have changed a lot since we were kids but I think it all changed you for the better in the end."

“I like to think so,” said Ava softly, eating another piece of crab. “I’ve certainly gotten better at understanding my emotions and dealing with them. Speaking of… I don’t think I ever really thanked you. Back in the day, you helped me a lot. To figure out my emotions, I mean.” She had thanked him for this before, as a child. But that was so long ago. It felt right to repeat it now.

He laughed. "Well it's not like I did that selflessly, you were always a great friend and I'm always happy to help a friend. Plus it's not like you didn't help me out a lot too, you know how much of a nervous wreck I used to be when we were kids. Thank god you came up to me because I never would have had the nerve to come up to you."

Ava chuckled into her glass of wine, “Yeah, I remember you were shy. That didn’t matter because I had no common sense and no regard for personal space and I wanted to know everything about everyone.” She grinned. “I guess it was that kind of curiosity that brought me into science.”

He smiled at her. "I think I could've guessed that from the start. The way you resited fun facts about fish to me proved that beyond any doubt." He smirked at her. "Though I also mightve guessed that you'd be the one with security given all the trouble you got up to."

“You’re right,” she said with a bit of a nod, and looked down at her food. “But I did all that because I didn’t have another outlet for my emotions. By now, I’ve found healthier ways to deal with it all. I don’t need to get into trouble anymore.” She ate some crab with sauce and then added, “Lucky for me and many other people!”

He teased her. "You know some times I thought you were just using me to get to my dad." He was joking ofcourse, he valued her friendship and understood that she cared about him. He always sort of felt that internally. After finishing his salad he finally began slowly digging into the crab.

“As if,” she said with an amused snort. “If anything, I was risking my ass as I befriended someone whose dad was a police officer!” With a smirk, she kept eating.

He countered with a smirk of his own. "Well now you've befriended the chief of security for the entire station... I'd say that must be quite a bit more risky."

Ava chuckled. “Ah, I think that would rather be an advantage, not a risk.” She grinned and ate another piece of crab. “Though I do not doubt your professional abilities, I’m sure you wouldn’t let me get away with bad stuff.”

He changed his tone to a falsely very serious one. "Well thats why im keeping my eye on you." He then switched into a slight laugh. Though his dad would probably love if he was being serious about that. He finished up his crab (he had been eating this whole time)

“I wouldn’t mind, I’ve got nothing to hide,” said Ava and shrugged. She continued eating and soon finished her crab as well. “Hm, this was excellent by the way! Tell your dad thanks for shipping these.”

"I will..." He trailed off because quite frankly he wasn't sure if he actually should. Perhaps he should atleast just simply avoid the full truth with his dad. Either way though his dad probably wouldn't happy to find out he had a dinner with just him and Ava.

Ava noticed the way his voice dropped away in the end. She could sense some kind of worry, probably her own, and carefully she asked, “You okay?”

"Well..." He stretched out the word as he thought out exactly what he should say. He didn't want to make Ava nervous about his dad at all with how he was feeling. "Life seems to always find a way to sprinkle in a little curveball when good things happen. I really like having you back in my life but my dad is just a little apprehensive is all."

Ava listend, frowned, and then realization dawned on her. “Ah.” She nodded slowly, looking at her mostly empty plate for a moment. Austin’s dad had always been protective of his son. He’d also been protective of Ava, back in the day. Austin had inherited that same protectiveness. And now, well, Ava could imagine that she’d hurt Austin and his dad would certainly be upset about someone hurting his boy. “It makes sense. I… I wronged you, all of you. Without meaning to, but still. I get that he’d be… suspicious.” God, that nearly made her feel sick. She was like the most open person ever, she’d never try to plot against someone, why would anyone ever be suspicious of her?! And yet, here they were. And she couldn’t even blame Austin’s dad.

He waved his hands. He felt Avas sadness "Personally I can't disagree with him more. I care about you a lot and I think there's a trust between us. You are probably my closest friend, I hope you know that." He paused for a second, wishing there was a way to emphasize it. "I'm not sure if it would make you uncomfortable or anything but could I give you a hug?"

Ava was touched by his words, smiling softly. And then a surprised expression came to her face as he asked for a hug. “Oh— well, yeah, I mean no, it wouldn’t make me uncomfortable,” she said, kind of stumbling over her own words.

"Well I mean Vulcan stuff I guess." He shrugged. "Things have changed a lot since we were kids. I remember we would mess around all the time and we had no clue about your Vulcan powers." He paused for a moment and scratched his neck nervously. "Now that I think about it that's kinda embarrassing isn't it?"

Ava shrugged. “We didn’t know. Nobody told me I wasn’t supposed to hold your hand. And anyways, I’ve built up mental barriers by now, to make social contact easier. Such as hugging.” She gave him a small smile.

He weighed his options for a second, shifting his head side to side as he did and then suddenly, he jumped up and gave her a hug. "You really are an amazing person. I just want you to really understand how great I think you are." She would feel Austin's great affection for her (90% of it was in a pleutonic way ofcourse) he really wanted her just to know so she wouldn't feel as bad as his dad mightve wanted her to feel.

As always, the hug was slightly overwhelming. But Ava enjoyed it, hugging Austin back, placing her hands on his back. “Thank you, Austin,” she muttered, feeling breathless from that flow of affection. “I think you’re amazing, too. I’m so glad to have you back.” She rested her chin on his shoulder as she spoke. “Life was really not the same without you.”

He smiled as she placed her chin on his shoulder, there was a light tickling sensation from the cloth rubbing against his skin. "Yeah... I missed this, I always thought it was so cool that my best friend was a Vulcan."

Ava chuckled next to his ear. “Thanks. I’m not sure that’s so cool, but I’m also really happy to have you as my best friend.”

He continued with his large smile. "You know when we met again, I never would've guessed we'd be able to capture this again. I'm glad we could be best friends again."

Finally, Ava pulled out of the hug again. Hugging someone for a long time required her to really keep up her mental guard and when it came to Austin, that was a little difficult for some reason. “I’m glad too,” she said honestly.

He went and took his seat again. "You know, whatever the future has in store for us I want you to know I'm in it for the long road with you. I dont want to ever have to lose you again."

His words warmed her heart. She smiled at him. “Thank you, Austin, I… I don’t even know what to say.” In fact, she was tearing up. “I don’t ever wanna leave you again either.”

21:16

Yes, that was a very platonic thing to say, what do you mean?

4

He had a wide smile on his face. He could feel his emotions boiling up in his heart, infact he couldnt help himself from shedding a few tears aswell. "Weve got so much time to make up together but just being besties again, that means the world to me."

“God, you’re right! We do have a lot of time to make up!” She laughed, wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye and reached for her wine glass. She emptied it. “Did we ever get drunk together?”, she suddenly asked. It was a bit of a random question, it just popped in her mind.

He wiped a few tears away. "No, I don't think we ever did..." His face contorted into a little smirk. "Why don't we get something a little bit stronger then." Whidbey walked towards a cabinet tucked away in the corner of his room where he kept some nicer whiskey for special occasions like this.

Ava grinned slightly. “Thank my adaptive digestive system, or else I wouldn’t even be able to get drunk!”

He laughed as he pulled out his whisky. "I could find some chocolate for you if you want. I'm sure your vulcan physiology would very much appreciate that."

“Actually, since I never grew up with Vulcan food and always human food, chocolate doesn’t have an effect on me. Well, other than making me happy, because I love chocolate,” she said with a smirk.

He facepalmed. "I definitely should've known that. Still I'm gonna replicate some chocolate because it makes me happy when you are happy." He smiled at her and went over to replicate some hazelnut chocaltes.

Ava chuckled and she was looking forward to the chocolates. “Ah, it’s fine.”

He came back to the table with a shotglass and a plate full of chocolates for each of them. "Which one first, chocolate or whisky?"

“Whisky,” she decided after a short moment of consideration.

He poured a glass for each of them on the table. "Bottoms up I guess, enjoy the glass." He then downed his glass quickly, then he stuck a little piece of chocolate in his mouth.

“Cheers!” Ava didn’t usually drink often, but she did enjoy good alcohol from time to time. Her feminine fingers, blushed slightly green at the knuckles as always, reached out for the whisky glass. The artificial light caught nicely in the brownish liquid and she put it to her lips. It burnt in the back of her throat, but pleasantly. She didn’t down it in one go like Austin, but rather took a sip and then put the glass back down on the table with a little clacking noise. “Hm, this is rather good quality,” she noted and then took one of the chocolates with a glitter in her eyes, because hmmmm chocolate!

Austin was excited to talk about the story behind it. "It was actually a going away present from my old squad. I just hadn't had a particularly good occasion to touch it yet. I couldn't imagine much of a better occasion renewing my friendship with you." Not to mention getting promoted tonight but this was actually more important to him then that. Austin at the end of the day was still CoS and he didn't stress about rank. He poured himself anouther small glass but this time he was content to take sporadic sips, he slightly regretful that he had wasted so much of it by just downing a glass.

As he spoke, Ava at her chocolate. “That sounds nice,” she then said, “Oh, and to your promotion, too!” She raised her glass to clink it against his. “To reunions and promotions!”

He clicked his glass against hers. "To reunions and promotions!" Then he took a small sip from his glass. "I almost forgot about the promotion, I'm just having fun tonight."

“Hah! I’m glad to hear that. Me too,” she gave him a smile as she sipped on her drink. “Hey,would you like to turn on some music?”

He nodded to her, honestly he was kinda of curious how her music tastes mightve changed. "Well sure, what do you have in mind?"

“How about some Queen?”, she asked. Freddy Mercury’s works (at least some of them) were just so iconic that they had survived WW3!

3

"Oh yes I love that stuff! I'm so glad they were able to survive world war 3!" Its crazy how supposedly most stuff was wiped out in the war but atleast good old Freddy Mercury had survived.

“Yes. Too iconic and queer to be killed by a world war,” said Ava, nodding solemnly. “Anyways, which song?”

He thought for a second about all the sings that were probably wiped out in the war. (Austin's writer went through his spotify playlist) "I really like the song killer queen if that's cool with you? " Not only was Freddy mercury queer but he was also a killer damn this dude was the full package.

The writer resisted to do a keysmash. Ava nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, of course! I love that song!” Ava knew all the lyrics. Then again, Ava knew all the lyrics to almost any song she liked.

"Computer please play Killer Queen!" Austin said excitedly, he was almost tempted to sing along with the lyrics as it faded in. He was feeding off of Avas excitement and so he decided to sing along.

Ava immediately joined in! In fact, she got very into it, downed her glass of whisky and stood up, playing air guitar while she sang. You better believe this was gonna be a horribly tipsy but glorious performance! Ava’s singing voice wasn’t that great to be honest, but she made up for it with enthusiasm and commitment.

Austin wasn't much of a singer either but he was having a really good time, he was holding a invisible microphone in his hand and got wayyyyyy too into it. If anyone other then Ava saw him do this Austin would've never been able to live it down but atleast he had Ava to share the moment with.

They were both being ridiculous, singing at the top of their lungs that she was a killer queen, gunpowder, gelatine! Honestly, were they even adults? Nothing had changed between the two of them. Ava took the liberty of coming to stand next to Austin, pressing her shoulder against his in order to sing into the invisible microphone in his hand.

Austin couldn't help but grow an even bigger smile when Ava came in next to him to sing into his invisible microphone. He shifted it just a little bit to place the mic right between the two of them. Honestly he felt just like a kid again, he hadn't been able to let loose this much in so long. He just loved being able to spend time with her again. As the song switched into the guitar solo Austin pocked the fake microphone and went back to back with Ava so he could air guitar.

Ava danced to the guitar solo quite ridiculously, throwing her hair around. She must have made a strange picture, a Vulcan lady with silver hair, bobbing her head to Killer Queen and then stepping onto the table to do her little dance. Honestly, she was a pretty good dancer. “She’s a Killer Queeeeeen!” Ava did feel like a queen, standing on the table next to the whisky glasses, it gave her some extra height and that took her back in time to when she’d been taller than Austin. Only during their first years together… She’d teased him about it. And then at some point, the tables had turned. She grinned at him now.

As the song came to a wrap he laughed things out. "An impromptu party in the Whidbey quarters, that made me feel like I was a kid again." He added on jokingly. "I hope none of the other senior staff heard that." He then went to go sit back down at his seat so he could grab anouther sip from his drink. "Thanks for coming here tonight. It's really good to see you again."

Grinning, Ava flopped down next to Austin on the couch. Their shoulders brushed. She didn’t mind. She felt bubbly and happy and she reached for her glass as well. “You too, Austin. You still got it, we should do karaoke nights!” She took a sip of whisky. It made her head feel warm and fuzzy.

He felt a similar fuzzy smile as his eyes contemplated dozing off on the couch next to her. It was his own quarters after all and he had a long day of excitement. He however in spit of things didn't want his time here to end. He wanted to hang out with Ava for as long as he possibly could. "You really want that? After hearing how poorly I sing? I honestly don't think I'd ever be able to live that down." He laughed.

2

“I would never let you live it down,” said Ava with a teasing grin, “And it would be glorious!” Then she noticed that their shoulders were touching and for a moment she blushed and looked away, only to put her glass down. “It’s gone pretty late, hasn’t it?” She pulled a face. Not that she wanted to leave - not at all - but maybe it would be wiser.

He leaned back on the couch with a wide smirk. "Yeah, it's been a pretty great night." In spite of it being a 'great night' he still couldn't help but feel sleepy, he always felt sleepy when he drank like this. "Thanks for coming."

“Thank you for giving me a second chance,” she said, quietly and earnestly, looking into his ocean eyes.

He laughed. "That wad the easy part." He shrugged. "Thank you for just... thank you for well... just being you. You are seriously amazing."

Ava chuckled and a green blush came to her cheeks as she looked away. “I… thanks, Austin.” She ran a hand through her hair and finally willed herself to stand up from the couch. “I really enjoyed this evening. Let’s do it again.”

He smiled at her. "Whenever you want, I can always find the time of day for you." Ava was a great friend, maybe it was a little selfish that he wanted to spend all of his time with her or maybe... it was something else.

“Thanks. You too, by the way. My quarters are still boring and bland as you know, but I’ll make sure to invite you once that changes, or… well, actually you can come by whenever.” She shrugged and smiled before she headed for the door. “Thanks for tonight. I’ll… see you around.” There was a strange aching in her chest as she reached for the door handle.

He smirked at her as his eyes fluttered lightly. "I'll... see you around to." He mimicked her jokingly. After a few more seconds he had his eyes closed, nearly asleep.

Ava was already out the door, feeling both happy and tired and longing to meet Austin again very very soon.

1

Dear Lt. Cdr. Austin Whidbey, Starfleet Intelligence requests your presence on a classified mission. You are to be assigned to the USS @deleted-role to take the place of its Chief Security Officer between the bridge or assisting in the likes of the brig when required. A full briefing as to the nature of the mission will take place once the ship has departed. Eventide is to depart on stardate 89728.71 – the 23rd of September 2412 at 1700 hours. Please be aboard the vessel for this time. It is predicted that this mission shall last approximately three days including the time taken for travel. A full communications blackout will be in place during this time: there will be no communication with Starbase 777 or any other outside sources. Please do not inform anyone else as to the details of this journey. We hope you understand, and we thank you for your compliance. Yours, Starfleet Intelligence.