Post 277: Lies of Omission

Stardate: 70702.0100
Title: Lies of Omission
Author: February Grace
Scene: Holodeck Four/ Lily T'Ana Beach house program, Lilac Room
Time: Following "Where the Boys Are" and concurrent with "Glitches"

Hearing the sound of his gasp, February turned away, back toward the full-length mirror that she had been dressing in front of. She stared intently at the floor.

It wasn't that she wasn't decently covered up by this point. No, it wasn't that at all. With the exception of those last two inches of zipper that needed to meet in the middle of her back, she was as decent as she could get, in this dress anyway.

It was just that never in a million years would she have expected that he would be the one to walk through that door. It had taken her a moment to recognize him, dressed as he was in faded jeans and a button down shirt.

"Oh. Dear. I'm sorry." RJ Gilmore turned away as well. "I didn't know anyone was-" he didn't know who he'd caught in the middle of dressing, all he'd seen was a blur of white fabric and blonde hair. But he didn't want to look twice to find out.

It was only when his eyes caught sight of the familiar pink tennis shoes in the corner by the door that he realized exactly who it was that he had walked in on.

He stammered and grabbed for the doorknob. "Oh, God. February, I am sorry." He fought the urge to look up at her again as hard as he could, unsure just how dressed she was by this point. But in the end his curiosity got the better of him, no matter how he condemned himself for it.

He lifted his eyes and looked at her once more. He was relieved to find that she was, with the exception of bare feet, fully dressed.

He'd never seen her wearing anything even remotely like this before. He watched as she resumed struggling with the zipper at the back of the dress. Without thinking, he stepped up behind her and reached out, slowly drawing the zipper up the rest of the way.

February's mouth fell open, but she didn't move away. His hand lingered at her back a moment, his eyes widening as he observed the way her spots trailed down her neck and over her shoulders. Finally, he regained his senses and pulled his hand away.

She raised her head, and he analyzed her expression as it reflected back at him from the surface of the mirror.

"Thank you," she whispered. She hurried to put her sunglasses back on, slipped her feet into the sandals and disappeared under the enormous hat Lily had selected for her. *All the better to hide behind.* February thought.

"You can have the room, if you like," she said nervously. "I'm finished here," She began hurriedly gathering up the clothing she'd shed onto the floor.

She folded the items quickly and stuffed everything into one of the empty boxes, before taking all three off the bed and setting them on the desk nearby. She swirled past him and as she went for the door, she felt his hand grasp her shoulder gently.

"May I ask a question?"

"If you wish, Sir."

"Why," he paused, feeling awkward about asking but wanting an answer just the same. "Why didn't you come to visit me?"

"What?"

"In Sickbay. I was there for days, but you never came to visit me after the surgery."

February turned back toward him, unsure what she should say. Should she tell him that she had come and he'd sent her away? That she'd heard him say some very revealing things before she left- things that broke her heart?

"Sir, I-"

"Not even once." He sounded very disappointed. "I was under the impression," he shifted his weight uneasily, "that our friendship was something you valued."

Finally she had to speak. "Captain, I did visit you. Once. But you were. . . I thought it best not to agitate you any more during your recovery."

"I was agitated?" he looked concerned now, afraid of what he might have said to her while medicated. "February, you can hardly hold a man's actions against him when he's under the influence of modern medicine." His brow remained furrowed and his hand remained on her shoulder. "If I said anything rude, or improper,"

"No, no." she reassured him, as she gently extricated herself from his grasp. "You just, you," she was glad now that she had put on the sunglasses. "You sent me away."

"I didn't do that," he winced, trying to remember. "Did I?"

"Yeah, you said that," she thought better of elaborating too much. "I should find other uses for my time."

"I really must have been out of it," he said, trying to get a good look at her expression now but finding it impossible between the hat and the glasses. "I didn't," he looked up at the ceiling as he asked the question he was dreading most. "I didn't say anything else, did I?"

"Don't worry," February knew that lying to him was the only way to save them both- her feelings, and his pride. "You didn't. I've got to go." She made a dash for the door.

He thought that the tone of her voice betrayed that she was hiding something, but he also really wanted to believe she was telling the truth.

"No, February. Wait." he spoke so softly she barely heard him. She stopped and he continued. "I'm the one who should go. Computer, arch." They watched as an arch appeared, flickered a moment and then disappeared.

"Computer! Arch!" he repeated the demand at greater volume, and the arch reappeared and stayed this time. February thought that was odd, especially considering the flickering images she thought she'd seen earlier. Gilmore moved toward the arch, and stopped just short of going through it.

"If I did say anything else," he ventured, a feeling gnawing at him more and more with each passing moment that in fact, he'd said plenty.

"No, Captain." She turned away, tears spilling beneath her sunglasses. "You didn't say anything at all."

Gilmore nodded, jaw clenched as he retreated through the arch and it closed behind him. The room and the woman in it vanished from his sight.

He immediately wished he'd said something more to her. If nothing else, to find out what he'd said that had injured her so, and try to make amends.

He tried to walk back through the arch, but the doors to the deck would not open. "Computer," he growled, "Open the deck."

"Like hell it is, I was just in there. Open the door!"

"System error," Gilmore began to worry. If the holodeck was having issues, any one of a number of very bad things could happen. "Computer, end program T'Ana Beach house."

He tried manually overriding the holodeck controls using the panel on the wall, without any success.

"Damn it." Gilmore tapped his badge. "Gilmore to Zanh. I don't know what the engineers just disconnected, but tell them to put it back. Now."

[Is there a problem, Sir?]

"Yes. Holodeck four is malfunctioning, with our people inside."

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Lt. February Grace
Helm/Flight Controller
USS Independence NCC-90791