Post 481: Overture

Stardate: 71008.2000
Title: Overture
Author: Lt. Grace
Scene: Camps of Yensul V
Time: Following "Somehow it feels like Christmas"
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As Maffe and Biggs sat side by side and quickly fell asleep by the glow of the fire, Bru tapped Dabin gently on the arm and nodded her head toward them. "I think someone has a crush on our Simon."

"I've got a crush on you." Dabin nudged her back playfully.

February smiled self-consciously, and glanced over at an older woman who sat near them, observing their every move intently. "He's so silly." She told the woman, raising her eyes to the ceiling.

The woman's lips turned slightly upward, but it was not a true smile. It was a haunted expression; one that revealed she was wondering what her life might have been, had she been born behind a different line on a different map.

*I saw that you finally got some of them talking while I was over by Simon and Maffe.* Bru thought to Reece, *What did you say?*

*I told them that I remembered what it was like to be an old woman. They didn't believe me,* Dabin gave her an impish smile. *So I shot 'em a few girdle and denture stories and now they think I'm not half bad.*

His smile vanished as he, too, considered how different his life could have been if he'd been born anywhere but where he had been. If he'd been born female.

He felt so terrible for the women who had been abandoned here, and he wished somehow that he could save them all with the blink of an eye or a wave of his hand, magically. His pain on their behalf was so genuine that it seemed to reach out and grab February by the heart, squeezing tightly.

*Oh, God. I love you so much I can barely breathe.* February thought to herself, forgetting again in this instant that he could hear her thoughts as clear as day. Before she could stop herself, her next thought was also spoken between them. *Marry me, Dabin.*

Dabin coughed, choking on the swallow of water he'd had in his mouth. He continued hacking for a moment, wincing in pain as his ribs reminded him that he was not a well man at all tonight. Still, despite the pain he laughed incredulously.

"February Grace!" he blurted aloud when he could finally speak again. "What did you just think to me?"

February turned bright red. She stammered. "I, I," she stopped, realizing that the cat was out of the bag now and there was no going back.

She let go of his hand and stood up. She straightened her coat, took a deep breath, and then dropped to one knee before him.

"Oh. My. God." Dabin's mouth hung open as he realized what was about to happen.

"You told me you didn't think you could ever ask the question again, so I guess it's up to me." She muttered as an aside, "I haven't done this since I was Gentry so bear with me a moment." She inhaled again, her words tumbling out over one another. She had to get them out quickly before she lost her nerve.

"I love you more than life itself and I don't ever want to be without you again. So please, Dabin Reece, will you marry me?"

She began trying to gauge his reaction, but his mind was an absolute blank to her, he was so shocked. She hurried to amend her question in an attempt to perhaps make the idea more attractive to him. "Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but just," her eyes were filled with hope and honest emotion. "Promise me that you'll marry me someday."

The women around the fire all stared at each other in disbelief, and then back at Grace and Reece as he gaped at her in silence. They waited almost as anxiously for his response as February did.

"No, February," Dabin spoke softly, reaching out and touching her face.

She instinctively pulled back. Was he trying to spare her the full force of his rejection with this gentle gesture? Was he going to tell her next that everything they'd done and had in the days since he decided to stay on the Independence was a mistake? Her eyes instantly filled with tears, even as he leaned closer, pressing his forehead against hers.

"Not tomorrow. Or someday." He put his hands on her shoulders and smiled. "Today."

"What?" She was completely confused. Hadn't he just turned her down? Hadn't he just said the word 'no' with her name attached to it?

*I don't want to marry you 'someday'.* He told her telepathically. *I've tried 'someday' before, and it never seems to work out. I don't want to marry you on some vague future tomorrow either, because tomorrow isn't promised to any of us.* He kissed her quickly before continuing. *I want to marry you today, as soon as the sun comes up. We can ask Salvek to do it. If you're serious.*

"Today?" February smiled, thinking it was the most amazing word she'd ever heard in her life. "Yes, I'm serious. Today."

*Thank you for asking me,* Reece thought. *I know that it took courage. I love you.*

She had a million thoughts running through her head, and she heard Dabin's laughter echo in her mind as he tried to keep up with the pace of them. The chaos only stilled when they both seemed to have the same simultaneous and secretive thought occur to them at once. *Let's not tell anyone on the Indy.*

It wasn't that either felt they had anything to hide- or any reason to be ashamed of their reassociation or of their feelings despite what Trill society said. It was just that as officers with just about every aspect of their lives on public display aboard Independence, it appealed to the secret recluse in each of them to keep this as something special, just for the two of them, for a while at least.

*What could be a more appropriate place,* February asked herself, *for two outcasts, misfits from the rest of their world, to be married than on a planet inhabited solely by other outcasts?* Somehow there was poetry in this that spoke to them both.

Additionally, they both knew full well that if they could not get a message to the Independence, they may be taking up residence here permanently. So why waste time?

Of course if they did make it back, the Captain would have to be notified. Salvek would know because he would be the person they spoke to next in order to ask him to use his authority as Commanding Officer of the Alchemy on this mission to actually perform the ceremony. They could ask Kellyn and Biggs to stand up for them, and Xhian to make an official record of the marriage. But that was as far as it needed to go.

Should they make it back to the Independence, no one else need know until they were good and ready to make it known. *Hey, what happens on Yensul stays on Yensul.* Dabin thought, and February laughed again.

"Oh, hey, wait," he whispered, suddenly concerned by one detail. "Will you be sad if our ol' buddy Reverend Lovejoy doesn't get to do the hitching? Or will Pointy work for you?"

"You're willing to marry me first thing in the morning, are you kidding me?" She kissed his cheek softly. "Pointy will do just fine."

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Lt. February Grace
Helm/Flight Controller
USS Independence/USS Alchemy