Late Night Visitor

Posted on Tuesday 1 December 2020 @ 09:08 by Lieutenant Commander Hayley Godding

Mission: A Whale of a problem (We're going to need a bigger boat)
Location: Godding's Quarters
Timeline: MD 8 2200
2066 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Mathias dragged himself into his quarters after the swim in the holodeck with Fay/Sansa. She kissed him! He didn't stop her, he just froze. Hayley was going to kill him! He envisioned Hayley setting punishment on him and he being privy to the cannons kiss. A rather gruesome form of punishment in the tall ship era. He sat down to continue work on a picture he had started a day or so ago. It was that of Hayley in her uniform on the HMS Duchess. He tossed the pencil down, looked at the time. He wasn't going to get much sleep if he didn't go talk to Hayley.

2200 hopefully it won't be too late for him to visit. He got up from the chair, rinsed his face, then headed out the door. Minutes later, he was in front of Godding's door. Ringing the chime he waited to see if she were in. Maybe he should have messaged her first to see if she was in! It was too late for that. He was already here, he rang the chime once more.

Always at the best part of the movie! Hayley tapped the console to pause the movie currently on the screen and sighed as she put the tub of pop-corn down on the glass coffee table before getting up. She hoped whoever it was wasn't going to take issue to her being in trackies and a t-shirt, but it was ships night, so she supposed it was better than sleep-wear.

"Computer, lights." She commanded, increasing the illumination before going over to the door and pressing the open button beside the door. Finding Mathias on the other side of the door, she was quite surprised to see that it was the Chief Science Officer standing there. "Lieutenant, this is an unexpected surprise. Mind you, you do have a habit of interrupting my leisure time, so I shouldn't be too surprised."

"Er.. my apologies." If he had a hat it would have been rather worse for the wear. His hair certainly had suffered, him not having thought to tame his hair for the moment. It most certainly looked like it would belong on an absent minded professor.

"I really need to talk with you." a sort of wild eyed look in his eyes, or one more of worry. "Might I come in?"

"Well, I suspected you might." Hayley said, stepping aside to let the bedraggled looking man in. "I'm not usually in the habit of letting men into my quarters late at night, Lieutenant, so I trust you have a compelling issue that brings you here in ships night to the door of someone who is on enforced leave of absence?" She asked, trying not to sound too put out and a subtle reminder that she wasn't the current CSec due to being on leave. "Although, I can see you're in a fair degree of distress... do you need something? Water? A hairbrush?"

"Water yes, hairbrush?" His expression was quizzical at best, then caught sight of his hair. "Oh my." he stated, reaching up to quell the unruly locks.

He spotted a chair and indicated it. "May I take a seat? And what I've come to talk to you about isn't something for the... current acting security chief. It has something to do with you ... me...Fay/Sansa.." he closed his eyes for a moment to gather his scattered thoughts. Walking over to the seat he just sat down without her permission, placing his head in his hands.

Hayley walked over to the replicator and ordered a cold glass of water for Mathias. She started when he mentioned Fay/Sansa but carried on, placing the glass down on the table in front of him, then folding her arms across her chest standing over him. "Why do I get the feeling I am not going to enjoy this late night confessional, Mister McPhee?" She asked, coldly. If her tone had an actual temperature, that glass of water would now be ice. "I warn you now that I am neither a counsellor nor a priest but that I am trained in ways of killing someone very slowly and as a security officer, I can easily make you disappear and make it look like you fell out an airlock..."

Mathias gulped, when he looked up at Hayley. "I er... that is.." he picked up the water and drank half of it as if he were a man who had been stuck out in the desert for awhile. He set the glass down, feeling a bit more composed. "Thank you for the water. And I am quite well aware of what you can do. Still, I came as I value the hopefully budding friendship that was developing between us." he took a deep breath as if getting ready to dive, then stated. "Point blank I shall say it and rip the bandaid off. Fay/Sansa kissed me."

"I see." Hayley said, then moved to lean back against the bulkhead wall keeping her arms crossed over her chest. "I think a bit of context is needed here, ideally before I have to call sickbay to have you sedated." She smirked. "Let's start at the beginning shall we? First of all, what were you doing and who were you doing it with, Sansa or Fay?" It was very easy for her to flip over into security officer mode, which enabled her to keep up a calm and professional exterior whilst ascertaining the core facts before leaping to any emotional conclusions.

"A brief report then. I had gone to Holodeck 3 to go do some scuba-diving. Didn't realize there was someone already there, I stepped inside thinking that it would be empty. I found out that they were there, watching whales, a program Sansa had created for Fay. We talked, we swam and talked about the whales. Just in case you are wondering I had clothing on, and she was in a swimming suit as well. Anyway, I requested a towel one for each of us and, when I dried my hair off, my hair was acting unruly like it is wont to do. She reached out to smooth my hair back, I turned to put my towel down when I turned back around she was staring at me with her beautiful eyes."

He picked up the glass of water and drank the rest of it in one gulp, his mouth feeling dry. Then he continued.

"I will admit I got lost in them, then she kissed me. I wasn't hoping for that, nor was I wishing for that to happen, she whispered something to the effect of it was her first kiss, and I think she said I reminded her of Tann. I don't know who Tann is but she did leave. I didn't do anything to them. I was just dumbstruck. I just wanted to tell you this as I respect you."

Having conducted quite a few interviews in her time, this one had taken the rather more rambling approach of someone trying very hard to convey a lot of complicated events into a digestable overview with critical points highlighted to provide clarity into their own innocence in events. He was incredibly defensive and wanted to underline very clearly that he'd not made any deliberate moves or had any intentions whatsoever to encourage or propagate the events that transpired. He certainly didn't give off the vibe of being a hyper-intelligent arch-villian type, but rather the bumbling idiot who always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and caught up in events that were beyond his understanding.

"Well, I appreciate you wanting to tell me and I am glad you respect me enough to tell me." Hayley said, smiling softly and reassuringly. "I can tell from your somewhat panicked mannerisms that you're somewhat concerned over the event in question and would rather it not have occurred at all."

"Yes I was concerned, and who wouldn't be. Its a bit of a ticklish mess to say the least. "Mathias responded.

"Well, from what you've described, I'm fairly confident that you were speaking with Fay for the duration of the event. Tell me, when you looked into her eyes, was there a purple-sparkle to them?" Hayley asked, still leaning back against the bulkhead in a calm and relaxed composure.

"Yes there was the purplish sparkle in her eyes." Mathias stated, feeling a bit better but still worried. "Something I've not seen before."

"Yes, that was indeed Fay." Hayley replied. "The mention of you reminding her of Tann was the main give-away." She sighed and walked over to where Mathias was sitting and crouched down beside him, putting her hand on his in a reassuring way. "You've nothing to be ashamed or worried about, alright? I promise you, for my part, I won't be firing you out a torpedo tube. How the Captain and Lieutenant Draxx will handle the news... well... I trust them to act professionally about it."

"How the Captain and Draxx...Oy, well I will cross that bridge when I get to it. And am glad that you know what is what."

"My relationship is with Sansa, not Fay." Hayley said, calmly. "Had you conducted a make-out session with Sansa and I'd learned of it, I assure you, they would never find your body." She grinned evilly. "But, no harm has been done, so try not to worry about it too much. Fay is obviously home-sick and your familiarity to Tann, who Fay cares for deeply, who she misses considerably, who she was separated from for a long time, and when they were finally reunited were separated again by her coming with us, I suspect she was merely curious."

His eyes widened at her comment, of being killed, he understood how a lover would react if their loved one had been ravished. "Well I have no desire to ravish Sansa/Fay, definitely not an honorable act. If Fay wishes to spend sometime with me... I promise there won't be anything happening, warranting you making me disappear. " giving a firm nod.

Hayley chuckled. "I wouldn't stress out about it too much, Mathias." She said. "Just as long as you're not the one to take Fay's other 'firsts', I think there's no harm in allowing Fay to spend time with you. I'd recommend establishing some limits with her, since she seems keen to explore all aspects of humanity and I suspect my beloved Sansa is egging her on somewhat... so you are subject to the whimsical nature of a teenage girl. Rest assured, it is not my wrath you need to fear. I suspect my role in your demise will be helping the Captain hide the body..."

"I definitely plan on setting boundaries." Mathias replied, actually seeming to relax. He wasn't questioning Hayley's statement as to hiding of the body if something untoward happened between him and Fay/Sansa if the roles were reversed, he'd probably be feeling the same. "Well then, now that things have been brought out into the open, I am feeling less stressed. I am indeed sorry for once again intruding on your personal time." his mind shifted for a moment remembering her saying she had been watching a movie. "By chance, if you don't mind my asking. What movie were you watching?"

"Master and Commander; Far side of the world." Hayley replied. "An old Earth epic movie set in the age of tall ships... as you already know, its a bit of a passion of mine." She grinned. "Plus that Russel Crowe actor is super hunky. I'd cross the fence for that one, that's for sure..."

Oh Mathias's eyes lit up. "That is a fantastic movie! Let me know when you are watching it once more from the beginning sometime, if you wish another person to watch with you. I don't talk during movies." he smiled.

"I love old Earth movies, been trying to get Sansa interested in them. More than happy to invite you over to a movie night next time I'm hosting one." Hayley said, smiling softly. "I can always restart this one and you can join me this evening?"

"Yes please, I would love to do that. Thank you." Mathias giving a delighted smile moving over to where he could watch the movie with Hayley.

OFF