round 5 JP- Amb.Tallis Rhul & FltCapt. Toni Turner - Breakfast Adventure

[FltCapt. Sidney Riley]

((Deep Space 17: Tallis and Toni's quarters, 0400 hours))

::No
sooner
than Toni laid down, wrapped in Rhul's strong arms, a sense of
safety washed
over her. And for the first time in quite a while she felt
protected from the
harshness of reality. With this knowledge, she soon
was lulled into restful
sleep by his assuring whispers.::

((0600
Hours))

::Awakened by
the computer alarm, she sat up and
stretched her arms, then slid her feet to
the floor. Taking off her
clothes from the night before as she moved to the
bathroom, she threw
them into the refresher, then entered the sonic shower.
::

::Later, in a comfortable embroidered Laudean dress, she entered the
Twilight's
Edge.::

((Deep Space 17: Twilight's Edge,
0700))

::He
should have been seeing the now quiet promenade through
the haze of
sleep-bereft eyes. The smell of freshly-brewed coffee that rose
from the
table in front of him should have been all that was keeping him
awake.
In truth, however, he had been up for a couple of hours already
and
running on adrenaline. Unable to sleep, he had done his best to
settle
down for long enough to let Toni drift off before taking a sonic
shower,
dressing for breakfast and hitting the promenade. On the way, he
had
removed a package from his travel bag that he had
surreptitiously had
sent to him while the Thunder-A crew had been on
Earth; finding himself in a
position where he had no family heirlooms
for what he had planned, he had
been in contact with the Anderssons. As
the family that he had grown up with
after leaving his homeworld, he
owed them an update and they had been keen to
grant his favour. It was
with his best friend Steffen's blessing that he now
had his
grandmother's diamond engagement ring stowed away safely in the
pocket
of his dark green tunic.::

::By the time Toni arrived,
looking
like a gift from the Prophets, he was ready to greet her with
breakfast
already laid out on the table and her first cup of coffee ready
to
pour.::

Tallis: Good morning, beautiful. I thought I'd get
everything ordered up ready
for when you arrived.

Turner: ::her eyes
moving from him to the lavishly laden table; smiling:: It
looks like you did
a good job of it
too.

::Moving around the table, he pulled out her
chair. It was his usual, chivalrous
gesture.::

Tallis: ::Putting on
his best waiter act.:: So, what can I serve you this
morning,
Ma'am?

::Spreading
his hands wide, he indicated the selection of
breakfast foods that were
arranged before them. The usual cooked Terran fare,
such as sausage,
bacon and eggs were laid out on a platter, accompanied by a
bowl of
fruits from various worlds. A toast rack with a selection of
jams,
jellies and marmalades in small sampling bowls topped off the
display,
alongside a large vase of long stemmed pink roses with Baby's
Breath...
behind which a large dish of grits were waiting to make an
appearance.::

Turner:
::putting the napkin in her lap:: It all looks
good, but bacon and
eggs, toast and orange marmalade, and coffee would do as
starters.

::Noticing the roses for the first time, she smiled as she
admired them, then
looked to Rhul.::

Turner: You remembered. They're
beautiful.

Tallis: ::Beaming:: Hey, you know me... I wasn't going to do
half a job!

Turner:
::spotting the bowl of grits; laughing slightly::
Looks like they're
not the only things you remembered. I'll take some of
those too.

Tallis: I was counting on that too. Seems like I'm one of the
few people who
didn't know what they were.

::The waiter who had dealt
with his sizeable order had been human, although his
accent had been
different to Toni's.::

::The
fact that he had included them on the
menu brought the realization that
she and Sidney had converted him, at least
partially, to the southern
dark side. She chuckled internally with that
thought.::

Turner: Shall we eat?

::Rhul
served Toni's breakfast
for her and then helped himself to a couple of
pieces of toast and some
butter. As much as he was hiding it on the
outside, he had butterflies
in
his stomach. He knew there was no good reason for that;
given
everything that had led them to this point he was sure that Toni
would
not turn down his proposition. As he buttered his toast, he
continued
the conversation, trying to remain as casual as
possible.::

Tallis:
I've been thinking a lot about what things will be
like when we move
back to Til'ahn. Living with you and the children has been
a wonderful
experience so far but once we have our own house I have a feeling
it
will be even better.

::He was right. It had been a
wonderful
experience. He had brought with him the gift of laughter that had
nearly
faded from their lives.::

Turner: ::nodding:: I agree. Having
a
place to call home will be great for the children, especially a
home
where they know they are loved.

::Images began to form in
his
mind's eye; he had bonded well with both of the children and fate
had
presented him with not just a chance to be happy himself,
but to offer
happiness and stability to three other people that were
dear to him in the
process.::

Tallis: We could plant a garden... I
can see the children
running around in there now. I could teach Garth
to play springball. We could
sit outside on the warmer evenings and
watch the suns go down. It all seems
like a dream come true.

::And
in honesty it was; they had been able to
do some of those things before
he had first left the Embassy and transferred
to the Mercury, but
everything now came with the added bonus that they
wouldn't ever have to
go their separate ways at the end of the day. Of
course, there would be
times when they would both need to travel to complete
their duties but
knowing that the other would be waiting for them when they
returned,
that they would be living under the same roof, seemed to make
everything
sweeter.::


::She smiled warmly, thinking of the time
they
had walked home from the Market Place in the
rain; Garth's laughter
as Rhul chased him around the house, pretending
not to be able to catch him;
Vee trying so hard to play the flute for
him, wanting him to be proud of her,
and him showing that he was.::

Turner: ::noticing he was not eating
much:: Are you alright?

::He
realised he had paused half way through
buttering his toast. Smiling in
acceptance that he couldn't wait any longer,
he answered by placing his
knife and half-buttered toast back down on his
plate.::

Tallis: I'm fine... more than fine in
fact...

::And
then he rose from his seat, only for long enough to
lower himself onto
one knee, following the human customs that he had read up
on before
leaving Earth. Reaching into his pocket, he removed the heirloom
ring,
and held it towards Toni, looking deep into her blue eyes and
drinking
in every detail to remember in future years.::

Tallis:
Toni,
we've been through dangerous missions, stood by each other's
side
through the hardest of times and even after being separated we
have always
found each other again. The Prophets did not create words
for me to describe
just how much and how deeply I love you and will
always love you. Will you
marry me?

::She paused, taken off guard
by his actions and question.
Sitting back in her chair, she took in a
long breath, reaching to caress the
side of his face.::

Turner:
Marry you? ::tears of happiness forming in
the corner of her eyes::
Nothing in this Universe would make me happier than
to become your wife,
because, I love you deeply too, and will always love
you.

::Flinging
her arms around his neck to kiss him, they lost their
balance, tumbling
from his kneeling position to an awkward sprawl across the
floor, but
still holding the kiss, until the waiter disapprovingly cleared
his
throat.::

Turner: ::laughing, glancing up to the waiter:: Don't
mind us. He just asked me
to marry him, and I was
showing him how
head-over-heels in love with him I am.

Waiter: ::helping them up and back
to their seats:: Oh, I see. Congratulations.

Tallis: ::Laughing and
dusting himself down:: Thankyou.

::He
had expected to be the one to
sweep Toni off her feet, rather than the
other way around. The waiter, having
dealt with what he could possibly
have considered to be a potential incident,
cleared his throat once
again before returning to his
duties.::

Turner: ::after the waiter had left:: To answer your
question... Yes, I'll marry
you.

Tallis: I was hoping you'd say
that.

::Moving
closer to her, he slipped the ring onto the fourth
finger of her
outstretched left hand. It looked right at home; he felt as
though he
should have done this a long time ago.::

Turner: ::watching
him place the ring on her finger:: It's beautiful.

::He could not have
been more pleased. He had taken steps to make sure it would
be the
perfect
fit and did not want to give her just any ring.::

Tallis:
Technically
it's a family heirloom. It belonged to Steffen's
grandmother and his family
were happy to pass it down. I wanted it to
mean something, and to have a
little history behind it.

Turner: That they would do that for you, makes
it even more special.

Tallis: ::He smiled:: Not just for me, for us. They
think of me as their son, so
that will technically make them your
in-laws...

::And they were certainly better than the recently-deceased
alternatives, but
now was not the time for such negative
thoughts.::

Turner: Now all we have to do is decide where and when. Any
thoughts about that?

Tallis:
Here, or on the Tiger. Before we go back
to the Embassy. I don't see
any need to wait. I asked Sidney and she said
that she would perform the
ceremony, unless you'd prefer to have it somewhere
else?

::He
was keen to tie the knot as soon as
possible but not to
the exclusion of Toni's feelings and wishes. He did
not know whether or not
she had any plans for how and where she wanted
to get married. Hopefully a
holodeck or a part of DS17 or the Tiger
could accommodate whatever she wanted
to do. If not, he would wait.::

::
It certainly wasn't the wedding she
had dreamed about, but if that is
what he wanted, then she'd gladly
relinquish that ceremony, after all,
she was in love with him, and he seemed
to want to do it as soon as
possible.::

Turner: Then we'll elope, if
Sidney has the time.

Tallis: We can speak to her to finalise a time and a
place, and we already have
a maid of honour and a page
boy.

::Picturing Vee in her favorite, a sparkly dress, and Garth in a
suit, carrying
their rings, she smiled.::

Turner: That we
do!

::He wondered how the children might feel about that. He hoped it
would not
prove to be difficult for
them.::

Turner: Okay, with that
settled, we'll need to buy
wedding bands, and have Sidney arrange for a
witness - perhaps her First
Officer would do it... The children have new
clothes I bought them on
Earth, and I have a dress suitable to wear. Am I
forgetting anything?

::He racked his brains, trying to think if there was
anything about human
weddings that he had forgotten.::

Tallis: What
about a bouquet?

Turner: ::glancing at the roses he had gotten her:: No,
I can carry these pink
roses as my bouquet.

::It seemed a little bit
like they were running on a shoestring but that all
added to the sense of
excitement.::

Tallis: If you're sure?

Turner: Let's go tell Vee
and Garth, and get started. With any luck at all we
can be married by
tomorrow morning.

::It
certainly looked like she was on board and if
she wanted to do things a
different way then she was hiding it very well
indeed. He hoped that
she
wouldn't regret eloping but it came with the
advantage of their knowing
that their future was secured. As for breakfast,
he was far too hyped
up now to eat even a morsel.::

Tallis: Let's do
that! As soon as you're finished eating.

::Too
excited to eat anymore,
but not wanting him to think his efforts with
breakfast would be going
unappreciated, she made an egg sandwich with
the toast.::

Turner:
::wolfing down a spoonful of grits:: I'll finish eating on the way. You
ready
to go?

Tallis: I'm ready to go whenever you are.

::Both
having
served with the fleet, Tallis and Toni were no strangers to
adventure; they
were about to embark upon the most exciting one
of
all.::

TBC

JP by. . .
Ambassador Tallis Rhul
Embassy
Duronis II
USS Thunder NCC 070605-A
andFleet Captain Toni
Turner
Commanding Officer
Embassy Duronis II
USS Thunder NCC -
70605-A