Movie Night

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 5:21am by Cailus Griffin & Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:30pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Shae's quarters
Timeline: immediately after 'Basic Instinct'

A Mission Post by Lieutenant Kalin 'Shae' Brennan PhD & Lieutenant JG Cailus Griffin
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Shae's quarters
Timeline: immediately after 'Basic Instinct'
Thu Jul 20th, 2017 @ 10:39pm


With Aoife bathed and in bed, Shae returned to the bedroom to dress down for the evening. She would only get a couple of hours before she had to turn in for the night, but it still felt good to be out of her uniform if only for an hour or two. Dressing in a tank and some fuzzy fleece pants, Shae kept looking back at the bed as she picked up after herself and Hurricane Aoife; it had been a relief to clear the air between her and Cailus, but seeing the bed simply kept reminding her of the guilt. She tried her best to push the tension and guilt down, but she couldn't help that she felt so stiff as she took clothes to the replicator for laundering.

As Shae tidied up, Cailus leaned against the wall next to Aoife's cot with his arms crossed, still clad in his uniform undershirt and trousers, but now barefoot. He felt damned awkward just standing there, doing nothing, but it'd be pointless and clumsy to help Shae clean up when there was so little to do. Without planning it, he had wound up staying for the evening, but they hadn't spoken about sleeping arrangements and now that silence was deafening.

He hadn't slept in Shae's quarters for a few days, now, since her reproductive cycle (and concurrent need) had passed. The bed was still there, the memory of her and Mindo still fresh for them both, and Cailus could see the way she looked at that blasted bed, and at him. They'd been relaxed and normal all day, but the unspoken question of where Cailus would sleep had risen the tension unbearably in the last half hour.

When Shae finished everything, she suddenly yawned, stretching her arms high. The tank top rose with her, exposing her well-toned stomach, and Cailus sighed as he watched the motion. Normally such a sight would set his heart pounding...and hell, he realised that it still did, she was damned gorgeous...but making love was the last thing on his mind right now.

After Shae came down from her yawn, the silence became even louder. They shared a long, uncomfortable look, unable to delay it any longer.

Shae could tell he was on the verge of leaving, but she didn't want him to go; they had made progress today and she didn't want to lose any of that simply because things were getting awkward again. She didn't know where the sudden idea that sprang into her head had come from, but once it was there, she latched onto it and decided to just go with it.

"Do you like popcorn?" Shae blurted out when she saw Cailus reaching for his boots.

The random question caught Cailus flat-footed and he stood straight, leaving his boots on the deck. "Of course," he said, suspicious but curious. "Who doesn't like popcorn?"

"I don't know, but I'd imagine there's bound to be some people who don't like popcorn," Shae said with a shrug. "Now go get into something more comfortable, I'll get us some popcorn. And drinks!" she continued with some excitement, standing in front of the replicator to urge it to finish its laundering cycle so she could then use it to make some popcorn.

The way she said that, plainly giving an order rather than asking, made Cailus grin on reflex, the tension well and truly broken by the perky Irish girl's excitement. He moved to the drawers, opening the one Shae had set aside for him months ago and privately thanked his lucky stars that he had something appropriate in there. Sort of appropriate, anyway.

As he got changed, Cailus' curiosity grew, wondering just what sort of entertainment she had in mind. A classic romance, like Casablanca, or something less well known, like Titanic? Possible; Shae was such a natural romantic at times, even if she didn't often think of herself like that. A pre-World War III comedy, perhaps? Conceivable, as Shae's happy nature did lean towards such. One of those epic Romulan films about the Earth-Romulan War, with sweeping stories of heroes and romance across the stars? Very feasible, and Cailus rather hoped for that. The Neutral Zone had made it so difficult to access Romulan art a hundred years ago.

A few minutes he returned to the main room, looking quite different now. He wore his typical crimson silk pants, true but now wore a comfortable, loose white t-shirt that nevertheless showed off his arms. More strange, however, was the symbol on that shirt. A little green alien with huge eyes glared outward, a bizarre blue blaster in hand, atop an old slogan: "YOU DON'T INVADE MARS. MARS INVADES YOU."

With popcorn and drinks replicated and waiting for them on the table, Shae bound over to her desk where she started looking for something on the terminal, nibbling on her lip as she searched until finally with a happy squeak she found what she was looking for. The large monitor behind the desk lit up with the chosen flick, and with giddy excitement Shae made her way to the couch to watch it with her boyfriend. "Love the shirt, I should get one for Dylan," she commented as she sat down, pulling the big bowl of popcorn into her lap.

Cailus smiled widely as he sat down next to her. "He'll love it. I'm just amazed that the replicator pattern is still around a hundred years later." Leaning forward to sip at the drink Shae had put on the table, he glanced back at her in confusion upon reading the large screen. "'Day of the Doctor? 'Doctor Who'? I thought you hated medical dramas?"

Shae snickered softly at his confusion, especially when instead of a hospital, the show opened up with a school. "I do hate medical dramas, they're utterly ridiculous," Shae affirmed, then looked at him with a sly grin. "You know, when you're clean shaven, you kind of look like one of the Doctors," she pointed out, giving him a playful poke to the cheek.

He tolerated the finger, but by giving Shae his most withering glare as a riposte. "Well, if this isn't a medical drama," he said with bemusement, "then who are these doctors...what?" He stopped short as the young woman rode her motorcycle straight into an utterly tiny police box, only to emerge in a large room...that was in the tiny police box. Even for a man accustomed to teleportation and interstellar travel, that was plainly ridiculous. Cailus pointed at the screen as he glanced again at Shae, wordlessly asking what in the hell they were watching.

With his mouth agape like that, how could she possibly resist the temptation of trying to land a piece of popcorn in there? "It's bigger on the inside," she said plainly, tossing a piece of popcorn at him while the characters on the screen talked about visiting ancient Mesopotamia, future Mars, and the moon.

Cailus caught the popcorn with outrageous ease on his tongue, his only reaction being a teasing eyebrow waggle as he chewed. "Science fiction, then. Okay," he noted, settling into the couch proper. As odd schenanigans ensued with the young Englishman dangling from his ankles thousands of feet in the air, and finally by a telephone of all things, he glanced at Shae again. "So that's early 21st century England. How did two humans get technology like that?"

"Well he's an alien, of course!" Shae explained with a goofy grin. "He's from a race of regenerating time travelers. The police box is called a Tardis, it's his time machine," she continued, gathering her feet up onto the couch to sit cross-legged with the bowl of popcorn in her lap. "I want a scarf like that, but I'd never have a cause to wear it and I doubt anyone would get the reference," she said when a girl in a labcoat and wearing an insanely long scarf appeared on the screen.

The scarf in question was long, multi-coloured and utterly garish, and Cailus was bamboozled at how anyone would ever want to wear such a thing. "So that man, the Doctor, what's his actual name? Why does his girlfriend not even call him that?" he asked, not unreasonably in his own opinion.

Shae was taking a sip of her drink as he asked, making her laugh and causing the fizzy drink to go up her nose. "Mmm, not his girlfriend!" Shae insisted as she coughed and laughed. "You never know his real name, The Doctor is the name he chose for himself, and he travels through time and space with a companion because he's so old and he's seen so much that he needs the perspective of the young to keep him from becoming too jaded. This Doctor is the eleventh incarnation and his companion's name is Clara. Now no more talking, just watch!"

Of course, Cailus was never going to be silent for long. He sensed that there was an entire world of subtext and backstory not being told, and hell, he hadn't explored all those planets without developing a keen sense of curiosity.

As the Doctor literally jumped through a hole and landed centuries in his own past before another smartly dressed Englishman, also apparently the Doctor, Cailus was watching with sheer befuddlement. As another, far older gentlemen tumbled down the hole, his patience burst.

"But if he's the younger version," Cailus complained, "then why does he look so much older? More to it, why don't the older Doctors remember everything that their younger self did? Why do the older Doctors act so goofy compared to their older...I mean, younger...self?"

"He regenerates, takes on a new face and personality, haven't you been paying attention? Now shush!" Shae replied.

"Yeah but-" Cailus started, only to be cut off by another 'shush'.

"No more talking or I start biting," she warned him with a giggle.

Duly threatened, Cailus shook with silent laughter, stretching an arm around Shae's shoulders. "Yes ma'am," he teased, grinning as he poached some popcorn.

Throughout the film, Cailus found a new form of entertainment: Shae herself. She laughed often, and despite himself, Cailus found himself laughing right along with her, becoming surprisingly fond of the Doctors' buffonery. During one moment, when the three Doctors triumphantly emerged from a painting, Shae's happy wiggling and celebratory squeak had him laughing hard, taking a good minute to quieten down under her stony glare. When the film came to a sad climax as the Doctor prepared to murder all those billions of children, he held her close as she sniffled, and then grinned with her as the Doctor made a fateful choice to save his people rather than inflict such awful destruction to save the universe.

Truth be told, Cailus didn't much like Day of the Doctor. Oddly enough, though, it had instantly become one of his favorite films.

By the time the movie came to a close and rolled the credits, Shae was snuggled against Cailus, all the awkwardness and tension from before forgotten, for the moment at the very least, and for the life of her she didn't want to get up now that the movie had ended. "So what did you think?" she asked, then tried to stifle a yawn under the misguided notion that she didn't need to go to bed yet.

"I can see the appeal," he murmured into her ear. It was a half-truth, really, but with Shae snuggled up against him, he was hardly going to be quibble. "I can see why you like it," he continued softly. "Those Doctors remind me of you, just a little."

"Hn?" Shae looked up at him with her big blue eyes, her ears raised with curiosity. "I'm like the Doctor? How so?" she asked.

Smiling into those eyes with her cat-like pupils, he explained quietly, "Because you're hilarious." He tapped the tip of her nose with his finger for emphasis. "There are times when you get that look in your eyes, that special look of yours, and I just know that something wonderful is about to happen. You're brilliant, gifted, and the way you sound when you're talking about the stars, it's the same wonder that they have when adventuring." His smile deepened, becoming more somber. "They're so compassionate, even with those who don't deserve it, just like you. They've been through hard times, horrible times, but it didn't break them, it ennobled them, just like you. Do I really need to add the ability to change your face?"

"Oh," Shae replied with a light dusting of color in her cheeks. "Thank you," she added softly with a shy smile. Still cuddled so close to him, she put an arm around his chest, not really as a hug, but just as a way to get that much closer to him. She breathed in his scent and sighed. "I've missed you..." she said in a whisper soft tone.

Blissfully comfortable, Cailus rested his head on Shae's sigh. "I missed you too," he murmured simply.

"Please tell me you'll stay tonight," she said.

Cailus forced himself to give that serious, logical thought, but with Shae's warm body snuggled up into him so perfectly, it wasn't a fair fight. The thought of returning to his quarters, alone, felt flatly impossible. He sighed against Shae's large ears, his cool breath tickling the sensitive hairs inside.

"I'm staying with you," he whispered, his voice peacefully certain.

That moment of silence as he considered what to do made Shae ache inside, and she held tight to him. "I'm so sorry I've made a mess of things." Sometimes it felt like she could never say 'sorry' enough, even though he knew how sorry she was, he knew it hadn't been with any intent to hurt or betray him, and he even said he'd forgiven her, but it still hurt her to know that she had damaged their relationship. They had said what needed to be said, words alone could not fix this feeling, only time could truly mend this hurt, but being away from him even for a few days had made her so terribly impatient; she wanted things to be good between them now, she didn't want to wonder if he was staying or feel that ache as he had to consider whether or not he should. They were strong, working things out together, but in the meantime these moments of silence were killing her!

"Do you still want to move in with me?" she asked timidly, as if the painting Cailus had mounted to her wall and the extra clothes in her closet weren't already enough of a sign that he was here for the long haul.

What a question. Cailus could feel Shae's breathing catch, could feel the tension in her body even through his shirt and her tank top, showing just how much his answer meant to her. He had been planning on doing things more slowly, more sensibly, but he'd sorely underestimated how blasted empty he felt without her. From the sound of it, Shae wasn't doing any better. Decision made, he gently tucked a finger under Shae's chin, rising her head up to look into her eyes.

"Yes," he said simply, smiling in serene contentment. Without giving Shae a chance to reply he leaned in and kissed her, caressing her lips delicately with his own.

Shae sighed in contentment at the feel of his lips on hers, but the moment of wonder and adoration was broken all too abruptly with a jittery shiver. "I'm sorry, you have to go shave," she said as she pulled away, the wrinkles around her eyes betraying the laughter she was holding back.

Cailus reacted with faux indignation, even pouting a little. "The sacrifices I make for you," he said grumpily, his playful manner well concealed. "A ninety five year streak of distinguished beardiness, all gone. So close to a century, too." He leaned in with another quick peck on her lips, unable to resist teasing her, before reluctantly pushing Shae off him so he could stand up. "I'll be right back."

"You're 36 and you certainly haven't been bearded for all of it," Shae said dryly, smiling as he kissed her again.

"I was born with a beard, and it was glorious," he insisted in jest, causing Shae to laugh, a beautiful sound he would never get tired of hearing.