Dinner for Two
Posted on Thu May 5th, 2022 @ 12:53am by Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke & Captain Edmund Merrick
Edited on on Thu May 5th, 2022 @ 1:06am
2,826 words; about a 14 minute read
Mission:
Episode 12 - Risin' To Risa
Location: O'Rourke Quarters - Deck 2 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD010 1900hrs
Hermia had enjoyed her time with Edmund and had invited him to dinner.
She was now dressed in a red dress and just putting the finishing touches to the meal in the part of her living area, she'd had converted into a kitchenette. The food smelled great and she was happy with it. I was a mixture of fresh produce from Empok Nor and replicated food stuffs, but she had prepared the vegetables, and cooked the meal herself on the gas hob.
He would be here soon.
Helena was staying with a friend, so it would just be the two of them.
Edmund nervously smoothed back his hair, pausing one more time to take a look in a reflective surface to make sure it still looked good. He breathed on his hand just to make certain his breath didn't smell. He straightened up his tie then decided he just wasn't going to wear it at all, tucking the dark red tie into his inner pocket, of the dark grey suit jacket. He undid the top button of his light grey long sleeved shirt. Okay he felt more comfortable. Okay one more look his black slacks not wrinkled, black slip on shoes, not scuffed. Taking a deep breath Edmund pressed the chime, to let Hermia know he was there.
Hearing the door chime, she removed her apron and discarded it in the recycler, adjusting her clothes, and hair she opened the door.
"Good evening." She said. "Well, you scrub up nice." She added with a smile. "Dinner's almost done, but we could have a glass of wine while we wait." The Doctor said as she led Edmund into her quarters.
"Why thank you, and you look absolutely stunning." Edmund responded, following her inside. "Wine sounds good to me." he did a quick scan of her abode, noting any personal effects as to how she decorated her quarters. Maybe he could get some tips on how to get his more homey. That doesn't mean he will get around to it, still. Doesn't hurt to look. "Nice place you have here."
"Its comfortable." Hermia said as she fetched the wine and two glasses. "The kitchenette cost me a bottle of fine aged Irish Whiskey, but it was worth it." She added. Returning to the living area, she placed the bottle and the glasses on the coffee table. "I hope you like red, this is a Rioja Crianza from the Rioja region of Spain." Opening the wine, she let it breathe a moment before pouring some into Edmund's glass.
"I do like red wine, but not truly familiar with Rioja region of Spain." he lifted the glass to his lips and tasted it, finding it rather good. "This is delicious." he responded, he looked back over towards the kitchenette "And that is a well worth investment of your aged fine Irish Whiskey. I may have to figure out something so that I can do some cooking. At the moment I've basically utilized the holo suite time to do some cooking." he took in how lovely she looked, and gave her a smile, he was trying to fight off the feelings of awkwardness. And he felt nervous.
"Cooking in a holosuite, sounds fun, what do you cook?" Hermia asked tiring to keep him relaxed.
"Well, quite a few meats. Like steaks, fish, chicken even pork. Its relaxing. And I do love a good bbq. Then again I am a little bit of a foodie, I do like trying out new dishes, from different cultures." Edmund taking another sip of his drink. "What do you like to cook, any favorites?"
"I really got into Mediterranean food when I was at the Academy." Hermia said. "I especially like Spanish food."
"Spanish food is really good. Can even be referred as a comfort food." Edmund giving a smile, and taking another sip of his wine. Lowering his glass, he added. "Mediterranean food is good as well."
"I'm glad you like Spanish food, because that's what we're having, Paella to start." Hermia said.
"That sounds very tasty." and his stomach rumbled in agreement. "Looks like my boss adds its sentiments as well." Edmund patting his belly. "Out of curiosity, what sort of scenery do you like being in. Forests? Seaside? Countryside?"
"I lived in what you might call the countryside." Hermia said. "But, I've always liked forests."
"I do really like forests, a lake or a stream in the mix, really lovely. Though I do really like the ocean too. A place to do some sailing on a ship. A ship with the creaking timber or and sound of the sails as they catch the wind." Edmund replied.
"I'm not really a fan of the ocean." Hermia said. "Bu, if you invite me to join you, I'll go as long as you don't make me call you, 'Captain'."
"What if instead, I have you call me Dread Pirate Roberts." Edmund said with a teasing smile. "Nah don't worry I won't be asking you to call me Captain, not at all."
"If you're Dread Pirate Robert, I'll be Anne Bonny, she was Irish, just like me." Hermia said.
Edmund smiled, "Indeed she was. I was wondering, have you ever watched the Princess Bride? It seems like you might have done so." he took another sip of his wine.
"Inconceivable." Hermia said with a smile.
Edmund chuckled, "Indeed you have watched it. Do you have any favorite parts of the movie that you could watch over and over?" leaning back to take another drink of the wine.
"When Inigo Montoya gets his revenge." Hermia said. "And when Westley is partly dead."
"Yes, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father prepare to die." Edmund quoted, "That is definitely one of my favorite scenes. The actor though I found out interestingly is that his father had died of cancer and that scene was most important to him, due to he imagined his character striking down the cancer which killed his father."
"That seems like a very positive way to deal with the pain and loss." Hermia said.
"I do agree with you on that. When I found that out, and I watched the movie again, there was a new perspective of that character and of that man." Edmund replied.
An alarm sounded. "Dinner's ready." Hermia said and got up to serve the food.
Edmund rose from his seat, wineglass in hand, "Is there anything i can help out with?" he asked as he entered into the kitchen area.
"Well, you can set the table, there are some plates in the cupboards next to the stove." Hermia said. "We'll be eating at the coffee table."
Giving a nod, Edmund did just that, not taking a lot of time set the table . He was quick and efficient at it. Probably came from experience through his life. His mouth was watering as well catching the delicious scent of the food. His stomach rumbled once more.
Hermia brought the Paella pan over to the table and placed it down. She then returned to the kitchenette took the potato pancakes out of the warming draw, put them on a plate and brought them to the table.
"I hope you like it, I didn't add any seafood, because I didn't know if you liked it or not." She then pick up the serving spoon, and filled Edmund's bowl before filling her own.
"I do like seafood but its something as you said, you didn't know. And this looks fantastic." sniffing appreciatively at the food she had dished up. When she was dong dishing her food, he picked up a spoon to have a taste, after blowing on it to cool it down some. It tasted wonderful to him, and of course he had to take a couple of more bites. "this is delicious!"
"Thank you." She said with a smile. "I'm glad you like it. Next time I'll add sea food." She added.
"That sounds like another invitation to eat some more of your delicious cooking." Edmund grinned. " but I can't be camping on your doorstep just to see if you'll feed me." Edmund chuckled. "Besides I do know how to make sure I don't starve."
"Oh, I'm sure you've got women all over the ship, lining up to make you dinner." Hermia teased.
This elicited a raised eyebrow from Edmund, "Not that I know of." the eyebrow lowering. "With my still being brand new on the ship, I just haven't really noticed if the women want to cook for me. Its something I don't expect, nor think that they should. It would be just wrong." giving a slight shrug.
"Its okay, I was just teasing you, its messed up way of showing affection, something I inherited from my father." Hermia said.
"Oh!" Edmund's cheeks going a slight dark pink. "Well then, okay guess I am not too good at people reading yet." he laughed, then ate a bit more and sipped the wine.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you, all I meant was that I like you and I enjoy your company." Hermia clarified.
"Don't worry about it." Edmund replied. "I'm really good in putting my foot in my mouth. Anyhow I'll be okay. I'm just back in my awkward stage at this point. Or haven't come out of it. I've not been known to be the smoothest man around."
Hermia smiled. "Outside of Sickbay or a battlefield, I'm not exactly most articulate of people, especially where emotions are involved." She paused. "Just because I feel others' emotions, doesn't mean I know what they are thinking."
Edmund nodded, "Well, I do enjoy your company and I do like you as well. And you managed not to toss me out of the airlock, with my eccentricities. My dancing in the hall on the way back to the ship." He took another sip of the wine which emptied his glass. "This is quite good and, I don't recall my saying thank you for walking me home, when I was drunk. So thank you." reaching out and touching her hand for a moment then pulling his hand away.
"My pleasure." Hermia said with a smile. "You can touch my hand if you want to." She said.
He reached out again and this time held her hand a little bit longer. "This is nice." smiling into her eyes. His eyes then lowered to her wine glass to see if it needed a bit more wine. "Would you like some more wine?"
"Yes." She said with a smile. "And yes to the wine too."
He poured Hermia some more wine and some for him as well. His bowl was empty, and looked to see if hers was as well. "I can wash up the dishes for you tonight. You cooked so I can cleanup?" Edmund smiling.
"Someone taught you well." Hermia said. "Thank you."
Edmund chuckled. "Aye my mother did. " he said as he gathered the dirty dishes and ran the soapy water to get things washed and dried. He rolled up his sleeves before he got to the dishes. He even put away the leftover food. As he cleaned up the dishes, Edmund started humming 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' as he did so.
"You seem to be doing a good job." Hermia said as she joined him in the kitchenette. "I'll keep you around." She added.
Edmund chuckled. "That means I have made my mum proud, if I am not kicked out for being a bad dinner guest." turning to look at Hermia. "She certainly instilled that in all of her children, and the same as my da, he was very insistent that we don't just sit on our behinds and not do any work. " turning back to rinse the dishes and put them carefully into the dish drainer.
"My father was similar, we had chores, which in our case included military training." She laughed. "At the Medical Academy, I was the only one in my graduating class that could field strip a type 3 phaser rifle blindfolded."
"Well then that is impressive. Also means you are quite the capable surgeon as well. I'd trust you to save my life if I am ever in dire need of surgery. It takes talent to be able to do something like that." He commenced to dry the dishes, stacking up the dishes and putting them away where Hermia had them placed. She had quite the orderly set up, and he liked it. The dishes cleaned up and put away, "Shall we finish up the wine? Or talk about other things you like to do? Or I can do a sketch of you, in your beautiful red dress." giving a smile.
"I've never had anyone sketch me before. It could be fun." Hermia said. "Where would you like me?"
"Definitely where you would be comfortable. On the sofa would be good and the light would be good as well." Edmund taking Hermia gently by the hand and leading her over to the sofa. He also got the wine glasses and filled them up once more. He then pulled out his travel sketch pad, and his pencil from his suit jacket and laying them upon the coffee table. "Make yourself comfortable, and then I can start sketching you."
Hermia sat up in the sofa and crossed her legs in a modest, but comfortable way and signalled to him she was ready. "So, when did you become an artist?" She asked.
Edmund started sketching, and as he worked, he answered, "I started when I was a young lad, around 8 years old. My first drawings were awful but I was determined to improve. And it actually was relaxing to do sketches." He would pause and look intently at her features, his eyes tracing over her curves and the way the light caressed her hair, and the softness of her lips and the gentleness in her eyes. Her portrait came to life upon the blank piece of paper. Edmund took mental notes on the color of her hair and the design of her dress as he wished to put that on canvas with the richness of the paint he used.
"I wish I could draw, the closest I've done were the anatomy diagrams I did at Medical school." Hermia said.
"I would like to see them if you have them and are willing to show them to me." Edmund responded, looking up from his sketch pad. "This is just a rough draft, but would you like to see it?" giving Hermia a smile, walking over to sit down by her on the couch. "What do you think?" the sketch is quite good though.
"I'm not sure if I still have them, its been a while." Hermia said. Then looking at the sketch. "Its a beautiful sketch. Do I really look like that?" She said.
"Indeed you do." he spoke softly, "Do you not see how beautiful you are? And it isn't just a surface beauty, it is also what you have inside." he reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, then he realized something, he was treading on dangerous ground here.
Now it was Hermia's turn to blush with embarrassment. She'd never thought of herself as beautiful.
Edmund noticed the blush, decided not to say anything about it, he then picked up her glass of wine and handed it to her, and he then picked up his own to take drink. Sitting there in a moment of silence just taking in the ambience. He did think though that he probably did need to make his own place a bit more homey. Then again would that even matter to do so?
Sitting with Edmund, even in silence felt nice. Accepting the glass of wine, she took a sip. "This is nice." She said.
"Yes it is nice." Edmund feeling at a loss for words. As time continued on, and his glass of wine being emptied, Edmund felt that he had better take his leave. "Hermia, to make certain I don't wear out my welcome, I probably should get going."
Hermia didn't want this to end, but she knew it was time for him to go. "Okay." She said. "Thank you for coming, I enjoyed this evening." She rose and gave him a brief hug.
"Thank you again for inviting me." Edmund replied, returning the embrace, then kissed her on the cheek. "Never forget that you are beautiful." picking up his sketch pad and placing it inside his jacket pocket. He then headed for the door, taking a look back at Hermia with a smile and then left, the door closing behind him.
A Joint Post By
First Lieutenant Edmund Merrick
The Cure Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke
Chief Medical Officer, USS Pioneer
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