Making Plans

Posted on Sat Jan 18th, 2025 @ 12:52pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Chuck Finley [Reece] & Lieutenant J'airesh Mora-Heath & Avalon [ADMIN NPC]

Mission: Season 6: Episode 5: A church beyond heaven
Location: The Promenade
1642 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

The ACMO was off duty and waiting in the pretty little Bajoran Coffee House on the Main Promenade, expecting to meet with the most amazing man she'd ever met and who she *still* couldn't believe had asked her to marry him. She fingered her engagement ring without being aware of what she was doing. A waitress approached and J'Air asked for a 'nice romantic table for two', blushing a little as she wondered how that might have sounded to the disinterested woman with the smart little black dress and a fake frilly pinafore that seemed to be the female uniform around here.

J'Air needn't have worried though, as the woman - whose name-badge said she was 'Mandy' - grinned and winked at her, leading her to the back of the little cafe where there were some tall, fake Jungle Ferns with vines reaching down towards them, all providing both a nice background to the room but also a couple of intimate and cozy little niches with tables inside their foliage arches. "oooh! Perfect!" J'Air breathed delightedly as she admired the setting. "Thank you SO much Mandy!"

"You're welcome, all part of the service" Mandy smiled and pulled out a notebook from somewhere behind her costume apron. "Do you want to order yet, or wait for your companion first?" she asked.

"Two simple Mojitos to start please and a couple of Menu PaDDs please" J'Air answered, working her way round the tightly fitted in table to a bench seat that curved around the back of the sweet little booth. It was a bit of a tight squeeze but that was going to add to the ambience, she realised.

Busy doing a rather intimate 'Argentine Tango' with the table, J'Air hadn't noticed the Chief of the Boat arrive, nor even the disappearance of the waitress either.

"Well now, if I knew the table was going to be competition, I've brought my axe." He smirked playfully, then reached up and pressed the table controls, causing it to slide away from the booth some, for easier seating."

As the table slid back, J'Air was able to shuffle around it with much less awkwardness and a lot more dignity. "and if I'd known how to do that with the table controls, you wouldn't have needed that awful axe." she seemed to complain, although she was smiling as she spoke. "I never want to see that darn thing again, since I first met you with it sticking out of your leg!" she rolled her eyes as if this had been a problem but they both knew it was the accident that made it possible for them to meet and get to know one another. If anything, the Axe had been their Cupid, in a strange way.

So happy to see Chuck again, J'Air stayed standing even though she had managed her way to the rear of the offending table and could have sat down quite easily now. She held out her arms with a huge grin of welcome and when he got close enough, she wrapped them around his neck and kissed him deeply. "I'm SO glad to see your handsome face, I have missed you!" she breathed after their kiss had ceased and she was able to explain.

Chuck grinned, then returned the kiss, as he wrapped his arms around J'Air as well. After a few beats, they both released each other and sat down. Chuck presses a control on the table, and it slid back in towards them, stopping at a comfortable distance. "Missed me?" He asked with a grin and a sparkle in his eyes. "We were just together a few hours ago, Darlin'."

"Yes, but we were apart for all of those *few* hours!" she pretended to pout briefly but then released the sad face and returned to the compulsory broad grin that took over her face every time she was near him. "I hope I stop grinning at you in a couple of years though" she added, taking back the mock seriousness again for just a few moments more. "... because I'll get stuck like that if I can't stop ever...." she explained, allowing the grin to return almost immediately. "See!?" she asked, shrugging but keeping the adoring look and the grin anyway.

"Well," Chuck replied with his own handsome grin. "I sure hope you never stop smiling on my account. I personally love how much it makes you glow like an angel." He reached up and gently caressed the right side of her face with his left hand.

J'Air 'glowed' but not in an angelic way a his fingers touched her face. Her eyes brightened and she nestled closer towards Chuck. "What would you like to eat?" she asked, changing the subject but not the mood nor the adoration in her expression.

Just at the exact moment, with perfect timing, a very beautiful waitress approached them with handheld padds on which to select and order their meals. She made polite conversation for a brief moment and then left them to choose. Scanning the options shown, J'Air pursed her shapely lips and asked Chuck what he would be having. "I wondered if you might like to share the Risan Fish Cocktail for Two Persons with me?" she pointed to it on her mini padd. "It looks very nice.... see?" the image that was shown did in fact look very appetising and it was served on a bed of "shoots" from Rigal 4 with a Bajoran Sauce and some Vulcan chopped pwotroot which was a beautiful lilac colour which brought out and complimented the vibrancy of the red of the shoots.

Chuck looked over the meal selection that J'Aiar had indicated, then nodded with a soft grin. "That sounds like it could be very good. Though, could we substitute the pwotroot with something else? They don't agree with me." He gave her an apologetic look as he spoke.

J'Air looked surprised. "But they're SO pretty!?" she said, but she put her hand on his forearm. "Of course, silly. Anything that doesn't agree with you will have to argue with me as well!" she laughed. "Let's have something else. What about a Terran Dish? They seem to have a couple of those, perhaps they specialise?"

Chuck grinned again, then shook his head. No, the Risan dish sounds nice, just with the pwotroot subbed out with something else." He truly wasn't trying to be difficult, he just had found, over the years, certain alien food gave him a bad reaction.

"We can ask that nice waitress to sort that out for us, when she comes back for the order" J'Air agreed without any difficulty before changing the subject unexpectedly but in a nonchalant tone. "Do you think we'll get married formally?" she asked Chuck, nestling against him again. "Or would you prefer that we don't do anything public, just make whatever promises we want to, alone? After all it's not really important that we float formality for everybody else's entertainment. We could take that nice little lodge in the Holosuite program - the one in the Bajoran setting that we went to with Zac and Emily? Maybe they would come too, just to kinda support us? Or do you have any relatives or friends you would like to have there as well? Did you have any plans in your head or heart that you were hoping for? Or had planned or imagined?"

Chuck considered the topic for a moment, then replied. "Well, if we were back home, I'd like to have my family there, of course. However, as the whole family is career Starfleet, we all understand that life happens when we are nowhere near each other. So...I guess, if we do decide to invite anyone, definitely have Zac and Emily there, as well as the senior staff, as I'm a member of it?"

J'Air took in a deep breath. "Senior Staff?" she repeated quietly. "I don't think........ I don't think of you as ...... I mean..... Senior Staff are pretty...... well, Senior....?" she stumbled to a halt, struggling to explain. "I don't mean I don't think of you as Senior Staff, it's just that I don't..... well, I........ mean I'm not nervous about being around you - about well, not so much nervous but I get so sure i'm going to say something stupid or drop something breakable when the Senior Staff are around - especially in large concentrations......"

Chuck reached out, trying to calm his love, when he saw how anxious she became. "It's alright, baby," he said soothingly. "There's no reason to be anxious or worried. You've been around the senior staff plenty of times, and didn't do anything to make them see you in anything less than the eyes of respect and professionalism." He put his arm around her and pulled her close in the booth, gently kissing her forehead.

Feeling the strength of Chuck's arm enclosing her and his ressassuring support, J'Air leant against his strong body and sighed. "I can do this if you're there" she nestled closer. "I can do ANYthing for you, no matter how scary!" she smiled, meaning every word.

"I often forget that you're Senior Staff" she grinned up at him. "I know I shouldn't forget...... In fact I should probably call you Sir!" she chuckled softly. "Sir" she added gazing up at him adoringly.

Chuck looked down at her with slitted eyes, as he growled playfully. :Don't you ever insult me like that again, young lady. I'm not an officer...I'm a noncom....I work for a living!" He smirked playfully as he spoke, tickling her side a little.

For the rest of their evening, the pair started to discuss the plans that they had for their wedding. They were very excited about the prospect of joining their lives together and becoming a family.

~OFF~