Beside

Posted on 15 Mar 2020 @ 3:06am by Civilian Eddie Reynolds

Mission: Mission 3 - Whom gods destroy ...
Location: Medusas head
Timeline: md5
1841 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Tia was sitting at a table in the lounge humming to herself and tapping her foot along to whatever music was playing inside her head. The rhythmic foot tapping was accompanied by her fingers tapping on a PADD as she jotted down names and snacked on a bowl of popcorn in front of her.

Eddie spotted her and went and slumped into a chair next to her. "Dads calling a family meeting," he muttered. "Mum, him, me and True all in the same room. What could go wrong?"

Tia had jumped, startled when Eddie started talking. She glanced around her as if wondering where he had come from. "Well, I suppose that doesn't sound like a lot of fun but maybe it will help everyone to get along. Do you . . . . do you want me to come too? I would. If you wanted me there."

"Want … hmmm yes perhaps but I think it might push mum over the edge. Probably not the best time for you to be meeting her you know," he rationalised. "My family situation is not quite as stable as yours.

What you up too? And can I have some of that?" he indicated the popcorn.

"Okay and yes, of course." She pushed the bowl towards him. "Thinking of names for our pet. Want to see?" Tia passed the PADD over to him too with her list of names in both columns, male and female.

Eddie laughed, "Somehow I knew you were the super organised type. Go on then what are your favourites?" He grabbed a handful of the popcorn.

"I was raised by scientists," Tia said, not understanding the humor in the situation but as she didn't think Eddie was making fun of her she looked at the list. "For a male . . . Socrates and Arthur. For a female my favorites are Freya and Theodora because calling her Theo would be really cute." She looked at Eddie to see if he liked any of those names.

"There is no way I am getting to put forward a convincing argument to call it spike is there?" he resigned himself to that. Socrates is just too long. We can't call him that. Theo isn't too bad I guess. What about Spike as a middle name?"

Theo could be for a boy or a girl. And yes, I guess Spike can be the middle name. My aunt had a cat named spike and she was a girl. She had part of her tail black as if she had dipped it in ink. That was how she got her name." Tia said this as if it was all very interesting. "I'll tell you what Eddie. You can name the lizard but not Spike, put some thought into it and explain why you picked that name."

"This is a trap right?" he asked. "And I'm would just fail it. I wanted a lizard and to call it spike. Thats the truth. Its that simple. If dad let me have one, it would be spike. I haven't got any other names to toss in the pot. So I'm going to decline there. You name the lizard. Then your happy and I haven't failed."

"I thought relationships were about compromise?" Tia said slightly confused. "So I was compromising and letting you name the lizard. It wasn't some kind of test."

"The compromise was sufficient in its middle name being Spike," Eddie said also confused. When had this become a relationship. She didn't want to take him up on going out on a date. He had been friend zoned. "Look lets just go with Theo. You like it. I like it. Theo Spike Hawkins."

"Okay," said Tia, just as confused. "Why Hawkins and not Reynolds?"

"Well your the woman …" Eddie said. "In Betazoid society we take the woman's surname. Its matriarchal. And lets face it Theo Spike Hawkins Reynolds is a mouthful isn't it?" he shrugged.

"Yeah, it is. But it doesn't matter to me. If you want it to be Hawkins then Hawkins it is." Tia typed that into her PADD. "Are you excited? Tia asked, ordering a soda when the waiter came around again.

He nodded. "Very. I always wanted a pet. And well considering the mum/dad drama in the last year this is the best thing thats happened in a long time."

"Your usual Eddie?" The blond nodded.

"No problem," the waiter said.

"I think perhaps I spend too much time here," he said after a moment. To be honest he had been camping out. To not be around his mum as much as she was still so angry and his dad was enjoying his relationship with True. This place had become sanctuary.

"Well you can always come back to my parents quarters with me. They won't mind. But I know you're not really comfortable there. I understand why." Tia said sipping her soda when it arrived. "I wish we had a place we could go together where no one would bother us."

Eddie was even more confused now. Why did she want that?

But a secret spot ... that could be useful. Quiet for homework. No waiters and people watching, “the captains son.” A refuge away from mum finding him.

“I could look into that. I’m sure there’s Jeffries tubes n places. Just gotta get a look at the ships schematics,” he said quietly, more to himself than anything.

"Okay, sure." Tia said yawning and then bringing her soda closer to her again. Sometimes it took very little to please her. "When is your meeting?"

"Few days," he replied. "Thanks," he said to the waiter who plonked a hot chocolate deluxe in front of him. "I think I might take it as an opportunity to get some things off my chest."

"That sounds serious." Tia said looking at him with her eyes raised. "Do you want to talk about it? I won't tell anyone, I'm really good at keeping secrets."

"Okay but you cannot tell anyone. Dad keeps it as far out of his career as he can. And uncle Liam. They want to be taken on their own merits. I'm a son of the 11th house of Betazed. Thats upper class. Its pretty much a double edged sword you know? My family have money and land, and influence back home. But with it comes following archaic rules and responsibilities. Its a bit tough to navigate to keep everyone happy you know?" he said.

"I promise," Tia nodded, trying to keep surprise out of her face as much as she could. "Alright." She fully intended to look up Betazoid society when they were done here.

"Plus the way mum is about True is annoying me. She really needs to move on there," Eddie continued. He grabbed his brownie and stuffed it in his mouth.

"Your mother doesn't like Counselor Keading?" Tia said, reaching for the popcorn bowl only to find it empty. She grinned to herself about how food just disappeared around Eddie. She worried a little bit that his mother wouldn't like her too.

"Some of its jealousy from residual feelings. They were married a long time and there was love there once. So seeing him with someone new so soon I get that. Some of its still anger for …. well dad … there were some … situations where he messed up," he settled on very aware that they were in a public place and perhaps not airing his families dirty laundry was a good idea. Perhaps he would tell her more another time when it was just them. He knew he could trust her.

"Some of its resentment. She hates it here. Shes only here because she got to stay with me. Which makes me feel bad too sometimes. And shes not even through the academy so Trues kinda where she thought she would be but didn't make it. Some of its ridiculous worry that she will lose me to True ….. you know what women are complicated."

Tia couldn't help but giggle at that. "It's good you're realizing this young." She said in a voice that more resembled her mother than her. She tried to hide the smile from him by putting her chin into the palm of her hand propped up by her elbow. Have you talked to True about all this? She's pretty good with understanding feelings even if she's not Betazoid."

"Oh Trues smack bang in the middle of it all suffering too. Mums not been nice to her. How can I go talk to True about my mum struggling to accept her?" he asked.

"Oh I meant about what you feel. You said you felt bad that your mom is only staying for you. Talking about those feelings might help?" Tia shrugged, she knew from what other people had told her that guys didn't always like to talk about their feelings, but here was Eddie opening up to her, she felt a little bit special in that moment.

Eddie shook his head. "No dads given her enough stress. I mean she knows about the …. ermm incidents and my sis …. yeah anyway. She doesn't need more from me. Worrying about me worrying, which will worry her. And then she will want me to talk to mum or even dad. No bad idea. What if I did tell mum that and then she decided to leave. I know shes bitter and angry at the minute but shes still my mum and I do need … Okay," he thought about that for a minute. Now he looked like a mummies boy. He shut off. " Lets stop talking about this shall we."

"Sorry," Tia said more quietly. "I was just trying to help." She looked back down at her PADD and erased all the names, putting in the one they had decided on as if she was going to forget it. "I'll show this to mom tonight and maybe we can get this started."

Eddie nodded. He couldn't help notice she seemed upset he didn't want to talk further. "Well I think the hard part will be finding one. You know Dad got Ensign Hawkins to source Trues Kitten. Maybe we need to speak to him."

"I was just going to let my parents handle it. I assume they have ways, but we can ask if you want to be involved in that part? Tia didn't really care where it came from, she was just looking forward to meeting it.

"Well I just thought he did a great job with the kitten. And we were out in uncharted space. He clearly knows how to find stuff. A skill of a good ops officer," Eddie said.

"Well I can tell them about it." Tia nodded. Quiet suddenly she was tired. Stupid bond. That must be it. She yawned. "I think I better go back to my quarters now, but thanks for the conversation. I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow at school and maybe after?"

Eddie nodded. "Well I'm always here for homework."

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Eddie Reynolds
NPC Jonathan Reynolds

Amiltia Hawkins
NPC True Keading