Making Amends... Sort of...

Posted on 21 Jan 2011 @ 11:12am by Captain Reva Madhava & Captain Antonio Vazquez

1,531 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: M7: Shore Leave - Mercer Colony
Location: The Planet

In the dim moonlight, Reva Madhava dug her toes into damp sand and sniffled as she stared out across the open water of a protected cove. Where it spilled around her shoulders, her long hair shimmered in the moonlight. That same moonlight was bouncing off her skin, making her appear blue. She'd been here, wishing she could bury her emotions in the sand as easily as she was digging her toes in, ever since her roommate had told her to get out of their shared apartment. As she watched the water and wallowed in her many miseries, Reva noticed a swimmer coming in to the beach. His black wetsuit gleamed and she let herself admire his shape.

For Antonio, he always felt a natural peace when on or in an ocean. It was days like this that made him seek solitude, and to be isolated from the demands and tensions of what his everyday life had become was more than welcomed.

Coming into the cove, he had swam across shallow rocks with thick invertebrate life on them, almost following a path until the rocks ended. The water was warm, and if it had not been for his low air pressure reading he would still be out their among the beautiful and unique sealife he had seen on this particular dive. The rocks began again, very plainly visible, and solidly covered with urchins and an occasional starfish like creature. This time when the trail ended, Antonio broke the surface, standing up to begin his wade back to shore.

He came out of the water onto a more wild and isolated part of the beach, stopping at a bag of personal items he had left in the sand. He began to take off his gear, and then to search with a hand behind himself to find the string to the zipper of his wetsuit, slowly pulling it downwards, revealing his upper back.

Watching the male, Reva enjoyed the show until she realized just who she was watching. Antonio: one of her reasons for crying. Disgusted, she let her torso fall backward onto the sand and stared upward. That position made her sniffles worse; she sat up again and hoped he wouldn't notice her.

Antonio continued to peel down his wetsuit to his waist, and wearing nothing underneath, he grabbed a towel out of his bag and began wrapping it around himself, turning to look around at the dark and isolated beach as he did so, until he seen the blue silhouette of a woman sitting up in the sand and apparently looking out into the water.

Turning his back to her again, he finished taking off his suit from underneath the towel, feeling more mellow than he had in a while, and thinking it was better to finish dressing at a sheltered area further down the beach, he began walking... towards the woman. He kept his eyes on her as he continued, taking in the picturesque full view of her profile, the sand, the lapping of the waves reaching out to her, the moonlight and stars shining overhead.

A strong wave washed up and the water touched Reva's toes. Scooting back to avoid getting her clothing wet, Reva glanced at Antonio as he approached her. How was it that on an entire planet, they end up on the same beach? Even as the question floated into her head, she knew: the transporter tech had coordinates for this beach already programmed. She certainly hadn't been specific when she'd asked for a beam-down - any beach would, so long as it was isolated. She waited, tensing up, to see if Antonio would pass her by or stop. She wanted him to do both.

"Reva.." he said softly as he approached her, his eyebrows remained slightly furrowed inwards from when he had recognized her a moment before. "I'm sorry...I was a real jackass earlier."

"We both were, Antonio," she answered, looking at him. Her gaze started at the edge of his towel and slid up - was he...? Had the wetsuit been all he'd had on? Her brain derailed for a moment and she lost her train of thought. "Um...," her brow furrowed slightly as her eyes traveled across skin to his face. What had she been about to say? Remembering, she looked away, "I'm sorry, too. I've been behaving badly and you've been getting the worst of it."

He did not know he would be until he was already in motion; he sat down next to her, his legs straight out as he leaned back on his elbows. "Maybe we both needed some time to..." he trailed off, looking out towards the water, making out some lights at one of the outer edges of the cove.

She looked at him, to see if he was going to finish that thought. "I suppose," she vaguely agreed. "I won't be a thorn in your side, Antonio. And before you think it: I did not follow you here. Not intentionally, at least," A defensive tone crept into her words but fell away as she continued, "I like the... friendship we've had. With what happened..., the kidnapping, I mean... I didn't know how to deal with that."

"I know", he angled his head and gazed back at her. This was Reva, not hiding behind anything.

"You're the safest person on the ship." She sighed. "I abused that."

He pushed himself upwards, his face not far from hers, "Don't say anymore, Reva. Don't continue to hurt yourself this way."

Chuckling ruefully, she rubbed her eyes. She couldn't help but notice how close he was to her. If she hadn't just said she wouldn't be a thorn in his side, she'd have kissed him - or touched him, bare minimum. No matter how angry she had been with him, she still felt in love. She kept her hands and her lips to herself.

But then he leaned in and kissed her. Before he could think about it he was gently touching her along her jawline, trailing his finger tips down to her chin, his lips tenderly touching hers. Softly at first, then becoming a deeper kiss; it lasted longer than he intended. He angled his head along with hers as she pressed into the caress, her body responding to his. He pulled away and looked at her realizing, admitting to himself that as much as he wanted to protect her, she wasn't the only one in need of some comfort. And he wanted it from her.

"Um...," startled by the kiss and the wave of desire coming from him, Reva didn't know what to say. Or do. "Don't.... Antonio, please don't tease me. Don't kiss me and then leave me wanting," she warned him. She touched his jaw and kissed him slowly.

Intertwining his hands into her hair, he kissed her back, pulling her down with him as he laid back onto the sand. He released her from the kiss, their lips still touching, "I won't", he promised.

And he didn't. And no one came along to interrupt them, either. Sometime later, still in a pleasant haze, Reva lay in the crook of his arm, her breasts pressed against him, their legs tangled. She languidly traced the lines of muscles on his belly, avoiding a scar that ran along his ribs. She couldn't muster any words just yet.

Antonio stared up at the stars, questioning himself on what just happened. He looked down at her, and smoothing her hair back with his hand, he caressed her arm with the other before he turned over to fold her into his arms. Pressing into her, feeling her warm body pressing into him, he looked down into her face, finding himself loving what he saw in her eyes. "Reva...", he spoke low. No other words would come and he closed his eyes, swallowing hard as he had made his decision.

"Mmm?" She purred, so drawn up in her own contentment that she didn't yet register his emotions. Looking up at him now, her brow furrowed as she read his worry... Was he feeling regret? Wishing he hadn't given in? There was more there, but her own insecurities colored them. "What is it?"

He reopened his eyes to see the change in hers. Still holding her tightly to him, he ran a hand over her head, and left it there as he stared at her for another moment. He was aroused again..even so, he began to push himself up and off of her slowly. "There's something I need to tell you... But, we should get dressed first".

"What? But...," she had felt his arousal and clutched at him, "Couldn't we first...? Once more before dressing?" Whatever he was going to say, Reva wasn't sure she wanted to hear it. Not when it was prefaced with the requirement that they dress first.

He looked back to her. She wasn't making things easy, she never did. And unsure of the future, he melted back into her, kissing her thoroughly, tasting her fully, then trailing his mouth downwards as he made love to her one more time...

__________________
Lt.JG Antonio Vazquez

Ensign Reva Madhava

USS Achilles

 

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