Responsibility and Duty

Posted on 14 Mar 2016 @ 9:59am by Petty Officer 1st Class Pieter Van Zyl Ph.D. & Petty Officer 3rd Class Ellsworth Hudson

2,311 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Multipurpose Lab
Timeline: MD32 - 10:00hrs

[ON]

Ellsworth sat in a chair opposite the couch and eyed the baby with no small amount of distrust, as if it were a Changeling that could at any moment shift into a Tarkalean condor and claw his eyes out. The whole scene had him further on edge because Piet - out of all the people on the ship, Pieter Van Zyl - was playing at being the thing’s temporary guardian.

To see that tiny little humanoid sitting in his lap being held by large, strong hands seemed… Well, weird. And unfair. For a lewd moment, one of the hundreds of daydreams Ellsworth had every day, he imagined himself in the baby’s place. But before that could get out of hand, he snapped his attention back to the PADD he was holding.

“Are you sure you wanna do this now? I can come back later after you’ve gotten rid of that thing.”

Narrowing his eyes at Ellsworth, Pieter looked down at Dania, looking quite snug in the carrier strapped to his chest. Although the carrier he'd replicated was dark and the most professional he could find in the database, Pieter was well aware of the fact that he looked a bit silly, especially to people who weren't used to him in such an edition.

"This thing," he replied, the look on his face making it clear that he didn't appreciate the word Ellsworth used, "is here to stay for the next couple of weeks, until Tyrion comes back. She's in my care and I'm not letting her out of my sight." The little girl gurgled against Pieter's chest, amused by the movement of his arms and reaching out to them with her chubby hands.

Ellsworth tried to imagine being saddled with a baby for weeks and almost shuddered. "How come you gotta take care of it? Cuz Tyrion is an officer?"

If Pieter was in the habit of making noises of exasperation at Ellsworth, this was the perfect opportunity. Instead, he just closed his eyes and shook his head. "No. He went to Betazed with Grayson to get bonded." Shifting in his seat, Pieter turned his attention to the stack of paDDs on the table, looking through them with one hands as Dania grabbed the other.

At the mention of Grayson, Ellsworth recalled the time he'd spent with the Trill. In his bed. In his office. In the Jefferies tubes. Tracing the outlines of his spots as they trailed down and down and down... And now the man was getting bonded to an avowed murderer.

Awkward.

"Bonded?" Ellsworth asked, twisting up his face in confusion. "What's that got to do with that baby? They don't let babies on transports? That's dumb."

"I think they wanted some privacy for their honeymoon," Pieter pointed out, even though he himself knew it was a thoroughly weak argument. "Did you compile a report from the last inventory?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, I got it," Ellsworth mumbled, shuffling one PADD behind another to bring up the correct data. He scanned through the information and frowned. "Okay, so, the engineering crew asked for these specialized self-sealing stem bolts. They wanted me to prioritize it, but can I do that?

"An ensign put in the request, but there's two lieutenants and a lieutenant commander ahead of him in the queue. And I've had the industrial replicator knocked offline by Ops except for a two-hour window when the ship isn't using so much power. How am I supposed to manage all these officers breathing down my neck? I tried to tell that guy that he just needed to wait, but he wasn't having it."

Pieter watching Ellsworth intently, taking in all that he said. He gave the situation a few moments of thought before leaning forward. "Hudson, you're in charge of rationing goods to the ships. Operations are the department that keeps us all going. You answer to no one but to your department head. Don't let them bully you. Engineering gets everything it needs for keeping the ship functioning, but only when replicating the parts falls within the parameters set by Ops. Everything else is secondary."

Ellsworth snorted. "Easy for you to say, nobody mouths off to you."

"Hudson, you were put in the position of quartermaster because you know what you're doing. People may doubt you at times, but from all the reports I've read, any mistake you may have made were minor and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. You need to believe in yourself more." Pieter knew that he would no doubt surprise Hudson with such a praise, but it was difficult to watch someone with the potential to be an expert in his job let people interfere with his judgment.

Ellsworth had been staring off into space, looking contemplative, before blurting out, "What does their honeymoon have to do with anything? I mean, couldn't they hire a babysitter? Do you even know them, Piet?"

Annoyance was practically radiating from Pieter's strong, silent frame as he stared openly at Ellsworth and his complete disregard for the rare praise he'd given him. This meeting was definitely not going as planned.

"Tyrion is my roommate, Hudson. And my friend."

"He is?" Ellsworth asked, sounding shocked as he looked around for proof of the claim. Naturally, he knew that somewhere in the back of his mind; he was, after all, charged with maintaining the ship's roster. "Huh. I didn't know you had friends like that."

"Friend's like what?" Pieter asked, although he already anticipated the answer. Eventually, he said Never mind and carried on with his analysis of Ellsworth's report.

Ellsworth seemed almost oblivious to the sound of Piet's V.O.I.C.E. as he carried on. He was deep in thought. Or, as deep in thought as the Betazoid ever got. Doing so seemed to trigger the memory of Piet having said something before while Ellsworth was only half paying attention. Shocked again, he looked up at Piet, then smiled. The smile broadened into a grin that seemed half-wicked.

"Piet."

The man in question stopped, then shook his head. By now he was accustomed to Hudson never speaking formally to him. Not that it ever stopped being annoying.

"Pietey..."

Pieter frowned now.

"You said I was good at my job," Ellsworth said, sitting up straight and leaning forward toward the other man. The compliment, now that he recognized it, seemed to really be carrying him away. "You said I know what I'm doing. You never say that stuff to me."

Shifting awkwardly, Pieter pursed his lips. Part of him had been hoping the praise had gone unnoticed but seeing the look on Ellsworth's face, it seemed worth it. He knew Ellsworth appreciated small comments like that. He practically yearned for approval, even though he rarely got it. Hell, maybe because he rarely got it. It was exhausting.

Ellsworth kept smiling an odd smile, part affectionate, part self-satisfied, part overly friendly. Earning anyone's praise made him feel good, but he was pretty sure he'd never be able to wrangle anything more than a lukewarm positive acknowledgment of basic competence out of Piet. Now that he finally had it, he found that he liked it more than he'd anticipated.

"You can't hide it," Ellsworth grinned, shifting to the edge of the couch. "Maybe that baby's making you soft, huh? You think I'm going to turn out to be pretty good at this." Ellsworth's eyebrows went up, and he pointed a finger at Piet. "You think I might even become a decent petty officer! You can't hide it anymore, Piet. It's all over your face."

What Pieter was sure was on his face was a firm, unimpressed scowl, something he had trouble pulling off considering the baby he was currently bouncing on his knees. "You're out of line, Hudson." There was no heat to what he said and no amount of scowling would add to it. Fact was, he did think Hudson was a good quartermaster. Hell, considering the crises on the ship and the number of eccentric, needy scientists onboard, it was a miracle the ship was still running.

"Can I be out of line if I'm never really in line in the first place?" Ellsworth asked, tapping his chin in mock thoughtfulness. He slowly rolled his eyes to look at Piet and sensed he was pressing his luck, so he quickly returned his attention to the inventory information on the PADD he was holding. "Okay, so I need to be firm with them about the schedule..."

A moment passed in silence between them.

"Hey, Piet, can I ask you something?" Ellsworth blurted out, ignoring the work in front of them. Again. "If Tyrion is your friend then how come he just dumped his baby on you like that? I mean, no offense, but you're like the last babysitter I'd think of. You're all muscled up and hard and stuff. Babies like soft things. And like, don't we even have a whole hologram dedicated to that now?"

Pieter looked up, a little shocked at the question in Ellsworth's eyes. Not at the question itself, but at the fact that the same one was on his own mind for days, ever since Dania was practically thrown into his lap. Looking at Ellsworth for a moment, he averted his eyes and stared down at the paDD in front of him when he answered.

"Because he's an asshole," he answered with uncharacteristic profanity.

Ellsworth stared on in astonishment. He glanced down at the baby briefly, but then quickly looked back at Piet. The man was always frank, just usually not that frank. And then Ellsworth laughed because he was nervous and uncertain about the situation, meaning there was nothing else for him to do but degenerate into the middle school giggles.

"He's an asshole! I can't believe you said that."

"I am an honest man," Pieter added, amused by Ellsworth's reaction. Sometimes he wondered about the impression he gave to people. Not often, of course, since he wasn't bothered by such a petty thing, but at moments like this - when he surprised someone, he realised very few people knew him at all.

"Maybe too honest," Ellsworth said, rolling his eyes as he recalled all the 'honesty' he often received from Piet. "So why'd you take the baby then, huh? You shoulda told him he's an asshole for dumping that thing on you like you're some kinda hologram."

Pieter shrugged in response, looking down at the baby for a moment. She looked to be dozing off, like a kitten, swaying in her carrying slightly. He smiled affectionately at her, gently caressing her tiny hand with his thumb before replying.

"I guess I'm also a stupid man," he admitted with a slightly resigned look on his face.

Ellsworth hesitated for a minute, not really sure what to do with an openly emotional Pieter Van Zyl. Worse, he seemed to be enjoying the interaction with the baby. It was a wonder it hadn't thrown up on him yet. That's all those things ever did, Ellsworth thought, pass fluid from one end or the other.

"Uh, Piet." He shifted in the chair. "Do you like... Want babies?"

He received an odd look in return. Still, he decided to answer the question. "One day, if I meet the right woman, yes. Why do you ask?"

The initial response brought out Ellsworth's incorrigibleness, and he gave a flirtatious smile. "You don't need a woman to have a baby these days, Piet."

Pieter just shook his head, giving Ellsworth a look of 'You know what I mean,'.

The smile lingered a little over long before he tilted his head slightly. "I dunno why. I've just never seen you like that. Like this. With the baby. You seem so... Soft. And paternal. It's weird. Shouldn't you be quoting it regulations about sleeping at its duty station?"

Letting out a small huff that sounded almost like a snort of laughter, Pieter looked back at Ellsworth silently for a moment, mind slightly spinning from the strange turn in the dynamic between them.

"That just means you don't know me very well."

"Well, I could get to know you better," Ellsworth said, offering with a demure smile. He seemed wholly unable to help himself as his eyes moved upward from Piet's knee, to his chest, until they were looking at one another. There was nothing in his body language to suggest he was anything but sincere; however, there was little doubt that he was aware of and comfortable with the statement's double meaning.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're incorrigible?" Pieter asked him in lieu of an actual response to such a statement. To his credit, Pieter was not used to those types of lines (and many others) from Ellsworth.

"All the time," Ellsworth replied, grinning shyly. "I think you like it though, Piet." His eyebrows raised together, and his grin spread. "Mm-hmm. Yep. If I wasn't incorrigible, who would you mentor? Who would you correct? Sometimes I think you even like arguing with me. It keeps the day interesting, doesn't it?"

"Keep telling yourself that." Pieter smirked at him before nodding towards the paDD in Ells' hands, indicating for him to continue with the report.

Ellsworth's shoulders sagged in the face of having to carry on with the work; he'd much rather skirt around flirtatious innuendo and make bad jokes all afternoon. But Piet was a taskmaster, a quality that the young Betazoid may or may not have secretly enjoyed to some extent. After all, if nobody was keeping him in line, who was he going to rebel against?


[ OFF ]

PO3 Ellsworth Hudson
Quartermaster
USS Galileo

PO1 Pieter Van Zyl
Botanist
USS Galileo
[PNPC Idris]

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