Interlude-Story within a Story

Interlude-Story within a Story

by THECURSOR

Rating: G
Genre: General

A/N: I blame myst! She goes and recommends my fic Mom and Dad and Self Sealing Stem bolts to the BBoard and now I can’t get this story about of my mind, even when I should be writing another chapter of Love of the Gods! Damn it myst, now I have all these ideas floating around in my head. This should tide us all over for a little longer; it isn’t really a chapter but an interlude between chapters, a little glimpse at Charley and Nerul’s first official date.

:::Set Before Mom and Dad and Self Sealing Stembolts:::

She promised herself she wouldn’t cry. It was far beneath a Kriosian noble woman to start crying for no good reason. Just because some prince, some silly rich boy, would dare to stand her up is no reason to let her eyes start filling up with tears. Nerul was stronger then that and if her father could see her sitting here behaving like a little girl it would send him into an absolute rage.

Still, she actually thought that Prince Kotello might’ve at least tried to show up this time. After all, he was just so dashing and charming that she assumed he might finally be telling the truth just this once.

“Maybe he’s running late.” Ensign Charley Tucker said from his place by the door and Nerul shrugged as the flickering candles of her nonexistent romantic dinner made the room’s shadows dance across the walls of her quarters.

“Maybe.” She said quietly before tracing a small pattern in the table cloth with one of her breadsticks, “He does have a very important job after all.”

“Yeah,” Charley said as he settled into the chair across from her and moved the twitching plate of gagh out of his sight, “Being a head of state is very important, you should know that.”

“Very important.” She repeated as he eyes stayed fixed on the invisible pattern in the table cloth, “Much more important then me.”

“Hey, you shouldn’t talk like that, you’re very important.”

“Oh really? To who?”

“Lot’s of people! All of your loyal subjects for instance and your parents and me…” His eyes went wide as he realized what he had let slip and Nerul fixed him with a look of pure curiosity, “I-I mean to say that if you weren’t here I’d have to guard somebody else and they probably wouldn’t be so nice.”

She smiled graciously at his compliment then frowned in thought. He was wrong now that she considered it. “That’s not true.” Nerul said with realization, “I’ve never been very nice too you.”

They were both silent for several minutes as they attempted to move on to a more pleasant subject. But they both drew a blank, in all the time that they’d known each other this was the first time they had ever truly conversed. They knew one another’s personalities and quirks by now. Charley was strong and quiet, Nerul was stubborn and loud and that was all they really knew.

For the first time, though, Nerul found herself entertaining the idea that she wanted to know more. This man was supposed to be her protector after all; it made a certain sense that she should at least know why he accepted such a position. He certainly didn’t look like a professional solider, or even like an expert in diplomatic security. From what she had seen of Starfleet’s highly trained military personnel, this stringy child hardly fit the bill. With no knowledge of his past, he remained an absolute mystery to her. “Who are you?”

It was a simple question that Charley couldn’t seem to answer. He looked suddenly very flustered and his face turned that funny green color it always did when he got nervous. “I’m nobody special really.”

“Oh? You fight Klingons, always arrive on time, and never complain even when I’ve behaved like an absolute beast.” She smiled apologetically at the last part and did her best to look like she meant it, “I’m sure that to someone you’re very special.” Nerul leaned forward in that secretive, playful way only women knew, “So who is it? A wife? A girlfriend? Some long lost sweetheart? All three at once perhaps? Come now; divulge the lusty secrets of Ensign Charley Tucker.”

More green entered his cheeks, which now piqued her curiosity since all of the previous human blushes she had seen were red. “Uh, there’s nothing like that. I just have my family back home. Mom, Dad, and my two little sisters.”

“So you’re just an ordinary human boy without a care in the world?”

“Well,” he said with a school boy smile that sent an odd sensation coursing through Nerul, “I wouldn’t exactly go that far.”

“You’re not ordinary?”

“Human actually.”

And that made her pause in shock. He looked human, right down to his small nose and dirty blonde hair. He had two legs, two arms, and all the other appropriate pieces of a human.

She must’ve spent too much time looking him up and down because she noticed a cold sweat starting to break on his forehead, as if her gaze was affecting him. He started talking rapidly in a small voice that broke and cracked periodically during his sentences, it was…actually rather cute. She made him nervous. “My mother is Vulcan so I’m only half human.”

Vulcan. That explained the green blushes, all this time she thought he was coming down with space sickness. She looked him over again and saw a slight arching in his eyebrows and point at the tip of his ears. Yes, she could see it now but he certainly didn’t act like a vulcan. “I take it you look more like your father then your mother?” and he nodded in a way that made her smile, “You should be glad, I heard Vulcan women are very plain looking.”

“Oh not my mom!” He didn’t seem to notice the slight teasing insult her comment had contained and instead just got a wispy look about him as he thought of his far off home. “My mom’s really pretty, always has been.”

“What does she look like?”

“Dark brown hair and dark eyes like yours-“ Nerul’s eyebrow raised in a questioning glance and Charley paused, “What?”

She waited to gather her thoughts, odd notions swimming through her head. There was something about him, something that she never noticed until just then. “You think I’m pretty?” Her voice barely broke a whisper as the puzzling notion left it’s full impact within the room.

“NO!” Charley shouted without thinking, “I-I mean I think you’re pretty but not in that way.”

“You just said that your mother was pretty and that I look like her.”

“No I said you have the same eyes-“

“So you think my eyes are pretty?”

“Well no…I mean yes…but it’s not like-“His head dropped into his hands like a puppet with its strings cut. He was humiliated. Every inch of him cried out to leave. Nerul saw the tension in his upper body and knew that his legs were already bent in the direction of the door.

Nerul pressed on, her questions as deep and as probing as any interrogator. Her once deceptively sweet voice was now turning into an inquisitive whisper. “Charley, look at me.” But he couldn’t, his head remained bowed in a look of silent shame. “Charley, are you saying that you’ve developed feelings for me?”

“I-I never said that.”

“Would you like to?”

He suddenly rose from his chair almost running from the room in a blind panic. “I…uh…have to go.” The slight swish of the door behind him signaled the end of his panicked retreat.

Alone in her room, there was a long sigh that escaped Nerul’s lips like a living bird freeing itself from a cage. “Men.” She whispered as the plate of expertly prepared gagh tumbled en masse on to the floor, leaving the blood worms to crawl in all directions. She didn’t bother to pick them up and simply wriggle around in search of soil to crawl through.

End (We now return you to your regularly scheduled story)

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Half a dozen of you have made comments

Hmm, this sounds like a beginning. I still don't know what you think of Nerul - she seems to be a user, but she does see something in Charley to want for herself. Is she an operator? How genuine is this sentiment? “That’s not true.” Nerul said with realization, “I’ve never been very nice too you.” Charley is...Charley...definitely Trip's son. But Nerul is still a wildcard to me.

Interesting series. I personally never warmed to Nerul. I see her as a pretty female that has been raised as spoiled and sefl indulgent as the ruling class in many works tend to do. She may grow some appreciation beyond her own needs, wants and desires someday if she is fortunate or not if she is more typicle. If not she will make a poor ruler for she will lack empathy for those lives she determines by continued self indulgent whims.

Charley is self effacing and possessing many good traits but may be too easily infatuated by a pretty face and form for his own good. Perhaps he needs to mature into a man that can comprehend what makes a good woman.
Unfortunately it seems as if Trip has failed to convery that understanding to his son.

HtH

Yeah, I still don't really feel for Nerul. She has potential to become better, but as of yet is still something of a snob. I'll give her a chance, though! Prove me wrong, TheCursor! :)

(Oh, BTW, awesome stuff!)

Your Mom and Dad and Self-Sealing Stem Bolts story is absolutely the funniest, most delightfully diverting story on this site. There are others that have gripped my attention longer, but none have made me smile more. I am with the others, Nerul needs a spanking and sent to her room without supper. But then again, maybe T'Pol can salvage her. Or get rid of her :) Please continue this series. I desperately want to see what kind of mischief Charley's little sister T'Mir gets into next.

i lik this 1 bt it seems 2 be an beginnin nd with me i want 2 no more soon i was wonderin if u were gonner do more on this 1

Nice teasing scene. Some women do that so well - its one of th eskills in the female power arsenal. But, alas not one of my skills.

I especially liked the descriptive last paragraph with the bird analogy and the (ug) freed blood worms.