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Posted on Wed Oct 21st, 2020 @ 1:56pm by Lieutenant JG Shaille Levine & Warrant Officer Koh Ottasu

Mission: Into The Delta Triangle
Location: Personal Quarters

From the moment she got back to the ship Shaille had been on the go. It was only once the away team was back from Kessik IV that she allowed herself to return to the quarters she shared with Koh. She was weary. It had only been a day but she felt like it had been months since she'd been in the sanctuary of this shared space, and now she needed it more than ever. But first, she needed a shower and to wash away the dirt, grime and dust from the surface, which meant removing her jacket. The two phaser shots to her back had left scorch marks in her jacket and burns on both the front and back of her shoulder which made every movement painful, something she was able to focus on now that she knew everyone, that Koh, was safe.

She stood in front of the dresser inside the door and examined her reflection before she started slowly easing her way out of her jacket, wincing with each movement as she started to peel it away from her shoulders.

The debrief for the pilots couldn't come fast enough. Koh wasn't eager to get out of his flight uniform, per say, but he'd be a lot more comfortable once he was out if it. All members of both away teams were accounted for, which included someone very special. He really tried to separate his personal and his professional life, but it was impossible to really keep the two separate reliably. Once the debrief was done, the Son of Ts'usu made his way to his quarters. To their quarters.

He took a step in, took a breath, relaxed. He saw the jacket on the floor by the dresser. His lengthy ears twitched as he heard the shower going. "Shaille, it's just me." he wanted to let her know it was him, to put her at ease, and to let her know that he was also safe. Alive. Home.

The sound of his voice cut clearly through the sound of the shower, a smile of relief on her face. "One sec!" she called, turning off the shower. Barely bothering to dry herself, she pulled one of his tshirts over her head before rushing him.

"Thank the Emperor!" she exclaimed, relief evident in her voice as she stopped short in front of him, taking a moment to look up into his face before she reached up on tiptoes, pressing soft kisses to the side of his mouth before pulling away to look at him. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? I was so worried..." Her hands found their way to the sides of his face as she looked up at him, eyes wide and questioning.

Koh was relieved to have her close, her touch, her proximity... everything about the moment was a thousand burdens off his shoulders. He reached out to take her hands in his, leaning into every one of those tiny little butterfly kisses. In the end, he half-closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers softly. He said something in a hushed whisper, in his native tongue. Shaille recognized it as a prayer of some sort. Gratitude, shown to the universe. Though probably more towards the concept of the Emperor, rather than the actual universe. "I'm alright. Got to play relay for the ship, so that was exciting." he said with a smirk. "When I was the go between for comms, that's when I started to worry. I wanted to comm in and ask for a situation update, but as the mission went on for longer and longer, I was more afraid of the answer than the question. I focused on my task as a go between, focused on just ID tags rather than names. I was more afraid of not seeing your name."

He took a deep breath. Her hair had the most interesting scent when it was just washed. The dampness played at his fur, but that was the furthest from his mind right now. "Are you alright?"

"Just glad you're back and you're okay," Shaille said softly, looking up at him before leaning into him again, a small smile playing on her lips as she listened to the steady rhythmic beating of his heart. "Tonight I just want to stay in, with you, is that okay?"

"That's perfect." He said softly, moving to rest the underside of his head against the crown of hers. "If the Emperor herself came here, I'd tell her to come back tomorrow." a pause, "Very politely, I mean. With dignity and grace." he covered, a soft smile already tugging on the edges of his mouth. "Things were hectic back there, touch and go a few too many times for my taste. I'm glad it's behind us."

A cold shiver ran through her, despite the warmth offered by his closeness. She didn't want to even consider admitting the moments of fear she had had where she questioned whether or not she would see him again, especially with the explosion, the building falling down around them and the aftershocks. "Carissa said they wouldn't have been able to find us if it wasn't for your help," she said softly.

"I never would stop looking for you. I'd tear the entire colony apart with my bare hands." he admitted with a soft smile, "Cause we're a team." he pulled back briefly just to look into her eyes. "I love you, Shaille." he said softly, leaning back in to rest his head gently against hers, his ears relaxing to droop along behind her hair.

"... is that one of my shirts?" he asked.

"What happened to 'I love you'?" Shaille asked teasingly. "Yes, it's one of your shirts, it's comfortable and it smells like you... and I wasn't sure how long you would be until you got home." Home, she liked that word. Their home, shared, together.

"Oh, it's there. Somewhere." He teased back. "Don't worry, it looks better on you." and he took a breath, "It's not home unless you're there." he gently tightened his grip on her, "Now, we're home."

She pulled her head away just enough to be able to look into his face. "So, I have to have my wounds reviewed by Commander Morgan in the morning, and then I have to get a new commbadge from Lieutenant Gunnison, but after that I'm on mandatory down time for the next five days... I was thinking, maybe you could wrangle a couple of days off and we could book some holodeck time? Just for the two of us? Otherwise we could just stay in and disconnect the door chime?"

"Hmmmmm, that sounds perfect. I'll put in the request as soon as we're done here." he said, not making any moves to leave the moment. "You know, could always burn some buoy rations, get a few simulations from home. They'd be scrubbed, but we could always swap out the night sky with the view from any other planet." he said with a smirk.

"But no matter what, we do it together."

"That, to me, sounds perfect," Shaille said with a smile. "Do you need to go back on duty? Put Ghost to bed? Or do I get you to myself now?"

He offered a smirk, "Oh, I don't think Ghost is going to get a lot of... oh, you meant sign out for the evening." boy did he feel silly. "Oh, umm, no. My shift ended with the debrief. I mean technically I'm on call, but that's only if an emergency pops up that needs fighter intervention. And since Starfleet doesn't actually *have* a strategy for fighter intervention at this time..." he said in a sing-song tone, that smirk ever present.

"I'm all yours."

"Good, there's no other way I want it." She grinned and stepped back. "How about you take a shower while I replicate some snacks and we can start with a movie. I'll even let you choose... so long as there's no death. I think I've had enough of that for a while."

Koh gave a nod, "Something familiar than. Something from Earth's collection, so we can both follow along." he offered. "You're getting a really good foothold on Ts'usubito, but some of the more light hearted stuff has a certain.... 'You Had To Be There' quality to really get the reference. Besides, I think you could benefit from being surrounded by 'Familiar'."

"But you're right. Shower first. Otherwise, that shirt isn't going to be the only thing that smells like me." and with that, he hesitantly released the woman he loved, to go rid himself of the mission's final happenstance. Sitting in a cockpit in a flight suit for as long as he did was doing NOBODY any favors.