Festive Spirit

Posted on 08 Feb 2018 @ 11:43am by Commander Luke Wyatt & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lily Blake

3,268 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Avondale Shipyard
Timeline: MD101

[ON]

Luke sat comfortably on the padded chair, Mocha in one hand and a PaDD in another. He had grown to enjoy the simpler things in life such as sitting in coffee stores reading articles regarding local news, going for his morning jog with his newly acquired pet dog, and just enjoying the simpler things in life.

On this particular morning, Luke was here for more than just this reason he was here because he had a coffee morning with Scarlet. They had met up several times in the past few weeks enjoying each others company and of course Lily's, Luke did always enjoy her playful and witty conversations about dragons. The only thing that bothered him was that he found himself feeling guilty, as of right now he and Miraj were still dating and were still very happy but the incident with Mal, Mirajs brother and still the age gap played on his mind. His main concern, however, was that she would get jealous of his and Scarlet's newfound friendship.

"Room for two more in those deep thoughts of yours?" Scarlet teased lightly as she watched him from where she stood beside his table. Lily was in her arms, giggling as she waved awkwardly to Luke with a soft toy unicorn under one arm and a drawing book under the other.

Luke looked up over his PaDD smiling, “Of course, though it appears you have one other with you!” He said pointing the top of the PaDD towards the unicorn held by Lily.

"Her name is Valiant," Lily smiled brightly to him, content to sit in her mother's lap as Scarlet took a chair at the table. She held the unicorn out to him so he could see it better, 'trotting' it up his arm.

Not moving his arm Luke chuckled as 'Valiant' moved up and down his arm. "What a fine majestic, Horse?" He said confused looking at the toy which did look like a horse but had a horn protruding from its head.

"She's not a horse, silly, she's a unicorn!" Lily laughed, shaking her head at his confusion. She was a purple unicorn at that. "That makes her magic."

"It's a new world, hm?" Scarlet said softly to Luke with a chuckle, shaking her head as she looked over the menu. She might playfully tut, but in truth, she wanted Lily to hold onto childhood as long as possible.

"Indeed," he agreed chuckling at Lily and watching her as she played with Valiant. Turning to Scarlet "Have you planned anything for Christmas? We'll be in deep space but I'm thinking off doing something."

Scarlet blinked with surprise, holding her breath for a long moment. She hadn't even thought that far. "No," she said quietly, shaking her head. "I hadn't thought about it yet. I mean, it's just us anyway. It's...not really an event in our household," she admitted. She'd heard of elaborate celebrations. And seen them, in films and holodeck programmes.

Luke nodded "We should do something, a dinner or something similar I'm a Christmas lover so the thought of you two not doing at least something to celebrate it concerns me!" He teased "Besides I've already got some presents, maybe we could decorate your quarters, add a tree and put some gifts under the said tree"

"Presents?" Lily perked up at the word, watching him with clear curiosity. "Gifts under a tree? A tree in our quarters?" she gave a half smile in her confusion, shaking her head. "It's very strange..."

He chuckled, "Oh Lily, I think you'd enjoy it. You decorate your quarters with tinsel, lights even fake snow! And there's a tree taller than me that you also decorate and put gifts under." Luke shrugged and shook his head "Or we could just do the dinner and present giving"

"No...no, pretty tree!" Lily said quickly, before that idea was taken back off the table.

Scarlet shook her head with a soft chuckle at that, leaning forward to prop her elbow on the table, resting her chin in her hand. "Too late. You can't put the genie back in the bottle now..."

He looked at Scarlet his grin mischievous "I never planned on putting it back into its bottle, please forgive me" He teased. "So, shall we go get into the Christmas spirit?" The question was mostly for Lily but as he said it he looked at Scarlet, mostly for approval.

"I suppose it can't be that bad," Scarlet teased lightly in return, throwing a hand up in defeat. "Okay, okay, so long as I don't have to cook any real food, I'm game..."

Luke smiled “Perfect, I’ll pop on by, let say after lunch? I’ll download some replicator schematics and we’ll set up our own little Christmas here in space.”

Scarlet shook her head softly with disbelief, but there was a fond smile playing over her features. "Would you want to bring Miraj along?" she asked lightly, glancing his way as she sipped her coffee.

At the mention of Miraj's name Luke's face saddened before he returned it to its normal state. "She's away with family at the moment, She's on the very last transport arriving here" He said deciding not to tell Scarlet that they had decided that their relationship was not something worth pursuing.

Scarlet caught the expression though, glancing down with a soft sigh, shaking her head. "I'm sorry," she said simply and quietly. He could take it how he wanted, but she had meant she was sorry they had ended their relationship.

He shrugged. "Its fine, I think I allowed myself to get carried away. She's young and well I am not, it didn't seem right dating someone almost the same as my daughter" Luke said as if to answer the elephant in the room. "Besides, I've been doing fine since Lillian's death by myself," The statement said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Anyway! This is meant to be fun, not sad" His lips parted in a smile, it was forced but necessary.

Scarlet searched his eyes with sadness for a long moment. She reached out, covering his hand, squeezing it firmly before settling to just hold it comfortably. He'd lost so much.

"Luke...do unicorns get presents for Christmas too?" Lily asked lightly, clearly having been in her own world as she danced Valiant across the table top, jumping sugar and menus.

Luke eyes watched Lily when he was snapped out of his gaze of the young playful girl as Scarlet's warm soft hand rested on his, not pulling him away he was content on the small gesture and allowing it to stay though he knew it was a gesture purely out of sympathy. At Lily’s comment, he chuckled nodding “Of course they do; Christmas is for everyone willing to embrace it. It’s a time for giving and receiving” Luke said as he continued to watch lily play with Valiant.

"Giving and receiving..." the young girl repeated matter of factly, the way she did when trying to learn something, although she didn't take her eyes off of the prancing unicorn. "What else is Christmas for?"

Luke had to think for a moment trying to describe Christmas in a way she'd understand. "Well you see hundreds of years ago and even now people worshiped a god, someone who they believed created the universe. He had a son called Jesus, who was killed but raised from the dead. That day Christians which was the name his followers celebrated his birth as years went on it became a bit more modern and usually more represented by Santa and a drink called Coca-Cola, people also consumed a lot of food." He said emphasising the last part of his sentence and finally flashing a wry grin at the young girl, though he had done most of his research the day prior.

Despite her best efforts, Lily couldn't quite keep up with it all, growing confused along the way. But she didn't mind, she was just content listening to him. "I like lots of food," she grinned at the prospect, and it was clear that it was neither here nor there what the food was, so long as there was lots of it. "Have you done lots of Christmasses?"

Looking between the young girl and Scarlet who he was still very conscious of the fact her hand remained on top of his said, "Actually this will be my first one, at least since I was your age" He said with a chuckle."But I did a lot of reading into it and I think its a great way of spending some time together"

"Together...." Lily smiled almost shyly at that, biting her lip as she looked down, nodding gently. "I like that word. And family. That's a nice word too."

Luke nodded "They do have a nice ring to it don't they, I guess that this is what Christmas is all about." He paused thinking for a moment unsure where to continue, Lily and he had been doing most of the talking whilst Scarlet opted for being silent. "If you could have one present what would it be?" He asked finally.

"Erm...." Lily watched him with a sudden frown of concentration that was only right for such a deep question. "A....sister?"

Scarlet laughed out loud before she could stop herself, shaking her head. "I wouldn't get your hopes up on that, button...besides, I don't think people count as presents..."

"I think you mum is right" He chuckled, Scarlet's laugh infectious. He chalked it down to Lily being young and a lonely child for her response. "My daughter, Abbey used to say the same thing" He offered, before adding, "Then again she also wanted a horse, dog, and her own starship. What about you Scarlet?" He asked looking towards the woman.

"Me?" Scarlet asked with surprise, not having expected to be included in the gift section. "I get presents too?" she chuckled, shaking her head lightly as she thought on it. She couldn't remember ever being asked that question before. "I'd like....a surprise."

"Oooo...." Lily giggled, nodding eagerly as she covered her mouth, as if it was a secret she was sharing in. "Mummy wants a pretty dress, she said she doesn't have enough of them...."

"Ah..." Scarlet reached out with her free hand to playfully cover Lily's mouth, struggling to keep the hand in place with the girl's laughter against her. "No she did not..." she said quickly.

Luke couldn’t help but laugh now as Scarlet playfully cupped her daughters mouth, Wanting to hear more he attempted to playfully help the young girl with his own free hand freeing the young girls mouth which was before a mixture of muffled giggles and laughs under Scarlet's hand “You must tell me more, what sort of dress do you think we should get your mother, Perhaps something in the colour blue? She deserves the very best don’t you think?”

"Pink!" the girl managed to get out, but was hindered just as much by her own building giggles as her mother's hand. "Sparkly pink!"

"Definitely not!" Scarlet laughed softly with her, shaking her head as she pressed her cheek to Lily's hair. "You will disregard everything Lily has just said, Wyatt, that's an order..."

Luke was in a fit of laughter his cheeks hurting from the grin slapped across his face. “You might have to lock us up in the brig ma’am” he said playing along “I am not sure I can comply with your order” Luke teased before finally adding “Though somehow I think sparkly pink is more your colour Lily” Luke tried to calm himself his grunt almost ear to ear, he looked at the two girls and let out a breath wiping away the moisture that had escaped during his laughter with his free hand.

"Maybe..." Lily admitted, trying to calm down from her giggles, but she'd given herself hiccups with them. "Your uniforms would be much better that way!"

He nodded thoughtfully “Maybe well suggest it to the captain at the next briefing” Luke too was trying to calm himself and slowly slid his hand away from Scarlet's before standing up. “I’ll be two moments” He said but didn’t wait for an answer as he walked over towards the coffee shop owner. He had preprogramed his presents for the pair earlier though planned on giving them at a later date. After thanking the owner he used the replicator and entered the programs code. The neatly wrapped and bowed presents materliased infront of him.

Taking the boxes he turned and placed one in front of Lily, one in front of Scarlet and the other in the middle. Inside Lily’s she’d find a dragon cape blue with green spikes the wings attached to her hands to create a sort of dragon appearance a perfect disguise. For Scarlet he had designed an intricate hair brooch, in the center was the letter S formed by small Scarlet jewels the rest of the brooch was silver and designed in a starry like pattern, the box in the middle was two identical bracelets the charm a jigsaw piece engraved with their names though lily's also had a half hatched dragon egg, it’s horned head sticking out the puffs of smoke from it’s tiny nostrils forming the letters where as Scarlet's was a simple yet elegantly written. “Just a little something, I made Abbey something too but shell have to get hers when she comes back from her trip,” he added.

Lily looked at the beautifully wrapped presents with wide eyes, eager to open it up, but she looked to her mother for permission first. When she got the nod, she grinned widely, making short work of the wrapping. She jumped up to stand on her chair when she pulled the dragon cape costume out, her eyes shining with excitement. She immediately tried to pull it on, but managed to get herself tangled in her haste. "Help please?" she bit her lip, turning in a circle as she tried to get the other arm.

Luke placed one hand in the spinning child holding back another fit of laughter as he guided her arm through the hole. “Now, this’ll make it easier on your hunts, the dragons will thing you’re one of them” he smiled sitting back down. “I was going to wait till we actually... got s tree or something but why wait?” He said watching Lily but speaking to Scarlet.

Scarlet was smiling as she watched Lily flapping her arms to make the dragon wings ripple, nodding gently to him. Usually she'd have been up for having things in their proper place and their proper time, but seeing how happy it had made Lily? It was worth bending the 'rules'.

"I love it..." Lily launched herself at Luke, hugging him fiercely as she closed her eyes and rested her head against him.

“I’m glad you do,” he said returning the hug his left arm wrapped around him while his other one had rested on the table. “I saw it and it called out to me; I got champion one too and you both look adorable in it” Luke added.

Lily tilted her head up so her chin rested on him, smiling warmly up to him, clearly pleased at the idea. "He can be my dragon friend? No...no, dragon family!"

“I think I speak confidently for him and I’d say he’s really appreciate that, I’ll let him know when I go home” he smiled his left hand gently tapping the young girls nose. “Being asked to join a family is a massive honour.”

Scarlet watched them with a gentle smile at that, content to let them enjoy the moment. She took the chance to open the gift he'd placed in front of her, her breath catching slightly when she saw the bejewelled hair slide. "Luke, it's beautiful," she shook her head with surprise. "You really did this just for me?"

Luke's cheeks warmed as a smile grew across his face again, all this smiling was going to give him a more chiseled face. “Well yeah” he teased, “Its just a little something, think of it as a welcome home present” he shrugged “Its just a little something” he said again trying to dismiss the sentimental object in reality he had worked for days over trying get the right design.

"A little something? It's stunning," Scarlet chuckled softly with a shake of her head as she ran a fingertip over the stones. And more than she deserved. She gathered her long, dark hair up, coiling it round before pushing the slide into her hair so they could see. "What do you think?" she didn't own many 'shiny' things, but it didn't mean she didn't appreciate them.

Luke nodded approvingly, his eyes danced over her taking in the sight of the piece now sitting beautifully in her hair. “Beautiful” was the only word he managed. The effect of the stones didn’t over compensate for anything, and it’s elegant nature did truly seem to make Scarlet glow. “I think I did an alright job, I should have been a designer” he said swiping away at the awed look on his face.

"What's this one?" Lily asked with unconcealed curiosity, stretching across the table with a wave of her dragon's wing to reach the third box he'd set down in the middle.

Reluctantly pulling his eyes from Scarlet and Looking at where the young girl was reaching he moved it closer to her hand which was now also wrapped in her dragons wing. “Why don you open it and see, but do it so your Mum and see too, this one is for you both” Luke explained.

Lily glanced to Scarlet, smiling when she saw the nod. She opened the box up quickly but carefully, her mouth forming an o shape when she saw the bracelets. "Ohhhh....so pretty..."

Scarlet smiled with her, leaning in to take a closer look, carefully taking them out so Lily could have a better view. "And matching," she said softly to her.

"'Part from the dragon," Lily agreed with a giggle, biting her lip as she held still long enough for Scarlet to put it on for her. "It's....like a grown up one and everything...."

Luke chuckled. “With as smart and intelligent you are dear lily you are as adult as they come” he said with a smile before adding “again it’s only a small thing I hope you like them.”

"We love them," Lily turned to hug him, smiling warmly as she settled against him.

"She's right, we do," Scarlet chuckled softly as she watched them, shaking her head gently. "You've raised the bar high, Luke...what on earth are we going to get you?"

He shrugged wrapping one arm around Lily returning the hug her face nuzzled into his side as she hugged him. “Honestly? I don’t want anything in return, putting the smile on your faces and seeing Lily happy is possibly the only thing I needed.” He admitted and after the last few months it was what he needed to stop going insane, as before Scarlet seemed to know how to read and set him right even without consciously doing so, and Lily... she was possibly the sweetest thing to walk the decks.

[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Luke Wyatt
Chief of Security

Commander Scarlet Blake
Second Officer

Lily Blake
Civilian Child
[PNPC Blake]

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