Episode Nine: Rascality
Jun 14, 2015 13:37:17 GMT 10
Post by Steve Hamrick on Jun 14, 2015 13:37:17 GMT 10
2000, evening after the attack
AU Vedic Base
Outside Expedition Leader's Suite, Command Hallway
Steve knew he shouldn't be here. From what he'd heard around base, Doctor Warren was out, and so avoided having any guys around here in the late evening.
After all, it was lonely at the top. Steve turned at the clicking of claws as the military commander came into the hallway, leader of this world's SV-1 and by half again the biggest of the Troodons. "Sir."
One leg was in a cast and his green-yellow hide bore the bandaged wounds of the firefight that had kept SV-1 from getting back in time to warn the base that the attack was coming early.
The colonel looked at him and gave an answering trilling growl that Steve had understood from talking to Sharp-Teeth to be the Troodon equivalent for 'major.'
The doors of the quarters just down the hall opened and the big alpha Troodon walked in, with the Ancient doors closing quietly behind him.
Steve finally bit the bullet and pushed the door chime. There was a long pause, and within he could just hear the sound of movement before the door opened.
Doctor Warren was out of the expedition uniform, wearing slacks, a button-up shirt, and a sweater vest. Steve swallowed. Like this, it was so much harder to see the differences life had caused in the two different versions of the same man. "You know, you're the only person on the planet who would call that casual wear."
"Granted. Why are you here?" Not that it was any easier for Warren. The leader knew his only saving grace was that the ten years that his Steve hadn't lived showed in Major Hamrick's appearance.
"Considering Bennett is the smartest dinosaur I've ever met, we'll be gone very soon and I felt like we needed to talk."
"Did anybody see you? Suppose it doesn't matter. According to the rumor mill I'm sleeping with every man from 25 to 50 on this expedition anyway, depending on who's spreading the rumor." Warren stepped out and let the door close behind him and they both walked toward the nearest of Vedas' balconies.
"Props to you then, Doctor. Your military commander did."
"Well, considering I know he's been with every Troodon female on the expedition, he won't care." As they walked, Warren let himself ask, all the things that had turned on his mind from the moment he'd seen the major. "So, you two married?"
"Well, all but the paperwork. He helped me buy my car, I put him through grad school on a lieutenant's salary, us and the bank own a home in the Springs. Mutual next of kin and healthcare proxy, we put that in place after he got pretty sick in grad school and his family barreled all the way in from Georgia and had me thrown out of the hospital back in 2005."
Warren looked away. "Always figured my family was going to be a problem. It'll be thirteen years this summer, then?"
Steve nodded. "He's on SV-1, in our world, serves under Captain Oxford."
It was the way Warren looked up the patterned Ancient ceiling that Steve realized it. "Oh hell, I recognize that look. Your Colonel Oxford."
"He never knew." A pair of doors opened and they stepped out onto a balcony, overlooking P-0967's thick forest as the last of sunlight was fading away. "I was careful, I didn't exactly feel like getting beaten to a pulp by an aggravated Army colonel." Warren tapped his long fingers on the balcony rail. "But, nobody's been you."
"Not me, though, Doctor. I'm not your Steve Hamrick and you're not my Blake Warren. But if we're anything alike, he probably sucked at saying it at 25, but he loved you."
"I know. It's been ten years and I still miss him so much. Is that pathetic?"
"No, but he wouldn't want you to spend all your life alone out of grief either." Steve propped himself on the same balcony. "Tell me you're at least trying to land someone?"
"One, I'm in charge; two, the SGC stacked the deck out here. I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say you and your Blake are the only LGBT people on the expedition."
Steve nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. I mean, Blake thinks one of his SV-1 teammates is, but I know he's wrong about Chief Calmara. Chief is pretty though. Not you-level pretty obviously."
Warren half-nodded in agreement before catching himself. "Pretty's not my type."
He moved a little closer on the balcony as Steve turned enough to body-block him. "As much as I would really like to, I can't hurt Blake that way. Even if he never knew about it, I'd know what I'd done."
"You're right, you're absolutely right." Warren stepped away. "Anyway, I want to hear about everything. Living vicariously, I guess."
As they both walked off the balcony and back to the hallway, Steve started. "Well, I'm just going to start from the point where a linguistics major decided to follow me all the way to California in 2003, I think that's when I really knew we were serious, I tried to break up and Blake was not having it."
((And I'm done.))
AU Vedic Base
Outside Expedition Leader's Suite, Command Hallway
Steve knew he shouldn't be here. From what he'd heard around base, Doctor Warren was out, and so avoided having any guys around here in the late evening.
After all, it was lonely at the top. Steve turned at the clicking of claws as the military commander came into the hallway, leader of this world's SV-1 and by half again the biggest of the Troodons. "Sir."
One leg was in a cast and his green-yellow hide bore the bandaged wounds of the firefight that had kept SV-1 from getting back in time to warn the base that the attack was coming early.
The colonel looked at him and gave an answering trilling growl that Steve had understood from talking to Sharp-Teeth to be the Troodon equivalent for 'major.'
The doors of the quarters just down the hall opened and the big alpha Troodon walked in, with the Ancient doors closing quietly behind him.
Steve finally bit the bullet and pushed the door chime. There was a long pause, and within he could just hear the sound of movement before the door opened.
Doctor Warren was out of the expedition uniform, wearing slacks, a button-up shirt, and a sweater vest. Steve swallowed. Like this, it was so much harder to see the differences life had caused in the two different versions of the same man. "You know, you're the only person on the planet who would call that casual wear."
"Granted. Why are you here?" Not that it was any easier for Warren. The leader knew his only saving grace was that the ten years that his Steve hadn't lived showed in Major Hamrick's appearance.
"Considering Bennett is the smartest dinosaur I've ever met, we'll be gone very soon and I felt like we needed to talk."
"Did anybody see you? Suppose it doesn't matter. According to the rumor mill I'm sleeping with every man from 25 to 50 on this expedition anyway, depending on who's spreading the rumor." Warren stepped out and let the door close behind him and they both walked toward the nearest of Vedas' balconies.
"Props to you then, Doctor. Your military commander did."
"Well, considering I know he's been with every Troodon female on the expedition, he won't care." As they walked, Warren let himself ask, all the things that had turned on his mind from the moment he'd seen the major. "So, you two married?"
"Well, all but the paperwork. He helped me buy my car, I put him through grad school on a lieutenant's salary, us and the bank own a home in the Springs. Mutual next of kin and healthcare proxy, we put that in place after he got pretty sick in grad school and his family barreled all the way in from Georgia and had me thrown out of the hospital back in 2005."
Warren looked away. "Always figured my family was going to be a problem. It'll be thirteen years this summer, then?"
Steve nodded. "He's on SV-1, in our world, serves under Captain Oxford."
It was the way Warren looked up the patterned Ancient ceiling that Steve realized it. "Oh hell, I recognize that look. Your Colonel Oxford."
"He never knew." A pair of doors opened and they stepped out onto a balcony, overlooking P-0967's thick forest as the last of sunlight was fading away. "I was careful, I didn't exactly feel like getting beaten to a pulp by an aggravated Army colonel." Warren tapped his long fingers on the balcony rail. "But, nobody's been you."
"Not me, though, Doctor. I'm not your Steve Hamrick and you're not my Blake Warren. But if we're anything alike, he probably sucked at saying it at 25, but he loved you."
"I know. It's been ten years and I still miss him so much. Is that pathetic?"
"No, but he wouldn't want you to spend all your life alone out of grief either." Steve propped himself on the same balcony. "Tell me you're at least trying to land someone?"
"One, I'm in charge; two, the SGC stacked the deck out here. I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say you and your Blake are the only LGBT people on the expedition."
Steve nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. I mean, Blake thinks one of his SV-1 teammates is, but I know he's wrong about Chief Calmara. Chief is pretty though. Not you-level pretty obviously."
Warren half-nodded in agreement before catching himself. "Pretty's not my type."
He moved a little closer on the balcony as Steve turned enough to body-block him. "As much as I would really like to, I can't hurt Blake that way. Even if he never knew about it, I'd know what I'd done."
"You're right, you're absolutely right." Warren stepped away. "Anyway, I want to hear about everything. Living vicariously, I guess."
As they both walked off the balcony and back to the hallway, Steve started. "Well, I'm just going to start from the point where a linguistics major decided to follow me all the way to California in 2003, I think that's when I really knew we were serious, I tried to break up and Blake was not having it."
((And I'm done.))