Homecoming pt. 1 [Orlando crew/Lindsi]

[neferia]

The captain's attention on his lady was a bit annoying at first. Yet thinking back to how it was to be in love, Darius admitted that if Chasity had been with him they would be no different. All he knew now is if the alliance was everything they claimed to be his wife would still be with him and they would be on Persephone raising their son together.

Sidney's stepping in front of him roused him from his daydream. "Oh! I'm a large. You need anything else?" Darius was a bit surprised that he had even been able to follow the conversation. A low growl in his abdomen reminded Darius that it had been a while since he last ate. "Also Sidney, if you could please let the Captain know that I will be in the mess hall when he is ready to speak to me. I haven't eaten all day and i think I'm going to go fix that problem." Darius offered a hand to the man in front of him and prayed that he had never shot at him in the war. Then again if he had there was probably a scar to prove it.

Darius was somewhat of a weapons expert and when it came to guns there wasn't many times he missed. turning away from the man in front of him Darius mused on his past once more and headed off toward the kitchen. He had to break the habit of speaking like he was still in service. "Get it together Old Man."

[Kalli Ann Bernett]

Kalli was still dancing around as they made their way down the hallway and to the storage room. She opened the door for Jamie as he spoke. Both of them walking in and she let the door go. "It really is amazing how perfect the story is. Though really you were the one who swooped in with the ship." Kalli said with the smile of a young girl on her face. 'Ya ever been in love before Jamie? I mean really in love?"

She rifled through the room and found a pair of green sheets. They weren't silk or anything but it was at least something. She thought about how she would love for someone to come rescue her, but she couldn't see that happening to her. Just didn't seem like something she would experience. "I didn't think things like that really happened ya know."

She smiled at Jamie as she leaned back against the door back out of the room. She was waiting to hear his story about love. He must have had such a wonderful time growing up in the core. She knew he had to be from the core because he was always so polite and proper.

[aliceayers]

Lindsi recognized his attempts at gently pushing her away. It was sweet. His hands through her hair, his sweet kiss on her forehead. It was all... well... sweet. But at this moment, sweet wasn't what she was looking for. It was silly, really, but she felt like any second, she might lose him again.

Serenity Valley, it was never supposed to go down the way it did. And it left her with this terrible fear that each day might be her last, or that it may be the last day for her loved ones. In some ways, it was good for her. She did enjoy her life more and really learned to cherish each day and opportunity. But it also left her slightly neurotic and impulsive.

So she kissed him, on the lips this time. It was a gentle kiss at first. But as it progressed, it became this passionate culmination of everything she had felt for him for the past ten years. Her face pressed hard against his, she felt right. The most right she had felt in a long time.

[georgewest]

George had been awake for the previous 36 hours watching over his new patient and making sure she was stable and improving. He had found evidence of smoke inhalation but it wasn't serious and there was nothing he could really do about it anyway. when he finally made his way to his quarters, he went out like a candle in a tidal wave.

Several hours later there was crackle at his intercom, it was busted apparently and didn't convey the message of a crew meeting. However, it did stir George and he began to wake up. He slowly made his way to his clothes and began sorting through his suitcase. He had organized the entire medical bay but hadn't quite moved himself in yet. He grabbed one of his black suits with pinstripes and got dressed. He put a couple derringers in specially made coat pockets. He sat back down on his bed and rubbed his eyes. He was still tired but nothing that a few gallons of coffee wouldn't fix.

He heard his intercom buzz and crackle again before it sparked out completely. I guess I better talk to Kalli about that, he thought.

That's when he noticed that the ship wasn't shaking at all and he couldn't hear the engines. The air vents were still blowing and the emergency lights weren't on so the engine probably hadn't exploded. This meant that they had landed and those two calls on the com were probably important.

He ran out of his room and into the cargo bay when he saw his patient standing there with Ben. "Oh good you're awake, but you really shouldn't be walking around yet, he said before noticing everyone kinda standing around and a new face he didn't recognize. "Did I miss something?" he asked

[djfeelgood3008]

Jamie watched Kalli as she danced along with a smile on his face, chuckling occasionally, until they eventually walked into the storage room. He looked around and rifled through the things as well, but just as Kalli, he didn't find anything silk. Ah, well. He looked back at her as she spoke, and he chuckled a bit, glancing down at the ground and leaning against the shelves of the storage room.

He thought a moment, shrugging his shoulders. "I dunno. No, I mean. Not really. I .. I mean, I had a couple of girlfriends, I guess, but .. never anything .. y'know. I dunno." Jamie laughed at himself, and his inability to even form a coherent sentence, and he sighed, looking up to her with a smile. "Guess I never got lucky enough to find someone to sweep off their feet, y'know? Well, not t-"

He chuckled again and shook his head, smiling. "What about you, Kalli? I mean, you're, well, pretty much the shiniest person I've ever met. Someone back home had to realize that."

[Kalli Ann Bernett]

Kalli giggled as Jamie stumbled over his words. She found it cute to hear him have so much trouble talking about it. Though to be honest she wasn't sure why it was such a hard topic. "I thought I was in love once. There was this boy..." She began to tell him. "He was really nice and all but everything go so turned around during the uprising.

Kalli paused a moment trying to figure out how to explain it all. "I guess we just sorta lost touch when everything happened." She told him "He fought in the uprising and I lost contact when I left for Persephone."

Kalli neglected to mention that they both were fighting the Alliance. though she hadn't actually fought herself she lead the group of people. She inspired them and it was that same boy she had fallen for that would lead the attack that killed her mother. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be in the end. Someday though I do hope to find the right one." She smile thinking that someday would be her day. She then opened the door and walked back in to the hallway. "We should probable get these to the Cap before we keep um waiting to long."

[djfeelgood3008]

Jamie frowned as he listened to her talk. Sure, he'd had relationships in the past, but nothing that he would have considered 'love'. "That's .. that's horrible, Kalli. I'm sorry to hear that. I guess .. there was this one girl, I met on Sihnon years back. I was doing a shipment there, and my ship had some engine problems. Got stranded there for a week, and she showed me around the city we were in, talked every day. But .. I dunno. Then, my ship got up and runnin' again and I had to go. Had more shipments that were behind, y'know?"

He shrugged a bit and stood up from the shelves, looking up to her with a bit of a smile. "Like you said, some things just aren't meant to be, right? We lost contact, and I have no idea what she's doin' since. Don't worry, Kalli. You'll .. you'll find the right one. I know it."

He nodded then as she mentioned that they should get the bedding to the captain and Lindsi, and grabbed what appeared to be one of the softer pillows off of a shelf, tucking it under an arm and following Kalli into the hallway. "Yeah, good point. Lindsi's gonna be pretty tired, she could probably use a good rest."

[Kalli Ann Bernett]

Kalli Though about Jamie's story as he told her of it. She had always wanted to go to Sihnon but for some reason at that moment it seemed like somewhere she wouldn't want to go anymore. "Ya think if ya every found her again it would be right?" She asked him sort of solemnly.

She knew she never could face that boy from back then again and never would want to. It was a sore spot in her life and one that she felt was all her fault but Jamie's story didn't seem to end the same way as hers. "What was it bout her that made you remember her even today?" She felt a little jealous she wonder if anyone would remember her like that.

SHe picked up her pace in waking. She felt like she should be around other people now. Something frustrated her but she wasn't to sure what. She tried not to think about it really.

[djfeelgood3008]

Jamie thought about her first question a moment, then shook his head as he walked along beside her. "Nah, I'm not thinkin' so. Don't think I'd be much interested anymore." He looked toward her, and thought about adding something else, but decided against it when she asked her next question, and looked ahead as they walked.

Again, Jamie thought about her question, and he kind of shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, you were talkin' about your past, kinda made me think about mine. Just kinda stuff I don't think about anymore. That's not my life anymore. I'm here now, with you." He looked over to her. "Er .. Y'know, and the crew. The Orlando." Mentally, he slapped himself.

And he sighed as they walked.

[Kalli Ann Bernett]

Kalli continue walking, looking only to the front of her. She kept just a step ahead of Jamie so she couldn't see his face as they approached the crew quarters. She was dead set on getting things done now.

Then she heard it. ' I'm here now, with you' She came to a complete halt when he said that. If she didn't know better she would have though he said it on purpose but it had to have been just a misstep in what he was saying. After all he had corrected it.

"We do got a pretty good crew don't we." She said with a smile. Though he didn't mean anything by it she still found it sweet for him to make note of her specifically. Jamie was cute and call hadn't had to many people pay attention to her before. It was nice to see someone take interest in her even if it was purely as a friend.

"So what would your type these days then?" Kalli asked him and started walking again. She didn't expect much of an answer from him. She really was just trying to make him talk now. She liked talking to him and the discomfort had passed.

[djfeelgood3008]

Jamie sighed again when he saw Kalli stop, and he made a wincing face and stopped as well - Smooth, Jamie, real smooth. He put a smile on his face and walked right up beside her, looking over at her. She was thinking something, and usually Jamie was pretty good at reading people, but gorramit he wasn't quite able to read her. He was just about to open his mouth and say something, anything at all, when she spoke again, and so his breath turned into a sigh and he nodded, smiling. "Yeah, we do. Captain did a good job roundin' up this crew."

Then, at her next question, Jamie laughed a bit, mostly at himself, and mostly out of nerves and embarrassment. He sighed and shook his head, shrugging as he began to speak. "Oh, wow, I don't know .. Y'know.. Nice, sweet. The kinda girl you know just really cares, can make me laugh." A pause. "Red hair." He chuckled and shook his head again.

"Man, we've got a lot on our plate comin' up, don't we." It's almost as if he was trying to change the subject, and abruptly, at that. "Only been out this way a few times myself, mostly to deliver farming equipment and seed and the like."

[Kalli Ann Bernett]

They reached the door to what would be Lindsi's quarters. She could hear a voice from the other side of the door. It sound like the captain. She leaned against the door. She thought it best not to intrude on them. Hearing Jamie's comment about his type a moment before she paused and thought about it.

She wondered if she would find someone as sweet as Jamie, if he would ever like someone like her. But then he had changed the subject she thought about bringing it up anyway but he seemed a little uncomfortable talking about it so she let it slide.

"really? this area sorta reminds me of home. I grew up on this planet actually. Haven't been back in a long time it's a little strange being here again." She confessed to him. She hadn't really wanted to ever come back but it was bound to happen being on a ship and all.

[djfeelgood3008]

The pilot watched Kalli's face as she seemed to be at least momentarily mulling over what he'd said. Jamie thought of all kinds of reasons he could sigh or frown or what have you at his fumbling failure at flirtatious conversation, but instead decided to roll with the conversation change that he'd rather abruptly started.

As she spoke, he nodded, recalling their conversations when they'd first met. "Yeah, I remember that you were from here." He saw from her face that it didn't really seem like she cared to be back here, so he searched in his mind for something else to say (which was something he'd been failing at up 'til now).

"Well, we've definitely got a purpose for bein' here, so I'm sure our minds'll all be right on the mission at hand. And hey, if you start feelin' homesick or anything, you can always talk to me."

[benbarrow]

It had been a very long time for Ben to actually get kissed by a woman, at least more than 6 years. He had that one fling one time, but things like that just don't work out when your heart belongs to someone else. If he couldn't be with Lindsi, then he preferred solitude. After ten years of wandering the 'Verse all alone he kind of got used to it. Of course there was the occasional whore, but only after a whole of drinking, and only in a state where he couldn't be held responsible for his actions anymore. He usually felt terrible afterwards, like he betrayed his own heart. He hadn't allowed himself to do that anymore in over 6 years.

He had almost forgotten what being kissed felt like, although Lindsi sure reminded him of the goodness of it. He knew he would never have to feel guilty about kissing again. He was with the one he loved now, and if it were up to him this was going to last forever. If he for some reason couldn't be with Lindsi anymore, he'd never want anyone else ever again. He would have so much less to live for.

But somehow being deprived from intimacy caused Ben to hold back a little. If he was going to make love to Lindsi, he wanted to take his time instead of doing it quick on a matress. Especially since the door was still open and someone could walk in. Sure, the ship was informal and the crew was a tight group, but he didn't need them to catch him with his pants down, or catch Lindsi with her pants down for that matter.

He slowly tilted his head up, and let go of her lips softly. He stopped when he was face to face with Lindsi.

"Let's not rush this, okay?" Ben said. "If we're gonna do this I want it to be more than a quickie in the passenger dorm. I've waited ten years, I can wait a few days longer."

Ben then kissed her on the cheek and sat at the edge of the bed again, still holding Lindsi's hand.

"I should go..." Ben continued. "I've gotta prepare the crew for what's coming. We could be heading for danger, and I wanna make sure they're all prepared. I'm not gonna lose anyone."

Ben had lost a lot of people in his life, starting with his female friends on Londinium when they got sent to prison. Then his best friends, the ones that followed him to war after the Battle of Serenity. He wasn't going to lose Lindsi, and he wasn't going to lose any of his crew. He had grown fond of them and he'd be damned if he was going to let anyone hurt them. Even if that meant setting himself and what he wanted aside. It was what being a captain was all about.

[Sidney Bainbridge]

It hadn't taken Sidney long to gather up the crew vest sizes. He quickly got the mule packed up to head in to New Dunsmuir and gather the supplies. A short trip since they had docked there. It didn't take him long to find a place to get the gear and back to the ship.

Though he didn't figure Lindsi would need one he had picked her up one as well. In the end he had grabbed a small for Kalli, three mediums for Jamie, Ceren and Lindsi, two larges for Darius and George and the extra larges for Ben and himself. It had set the ship's cash supplies back but if Ben thought they needed it, it would be worth the investment.

Sidney made his wa through his quarters as well and gathered a few extra fire arms. He didn't want to be under prepared if the situation show call for extra fire power. After that he returned to the cargo bay and stood by waiting for Ben to return and give him the orders.