<<directly following 'falling for two'>>
Mark turned, leaned down to move the bags out of the man's way. "Hi. Sorry
didn't mean to startle you." Then he offered his hand, noting the blush, the sad
eyes and a handsome visage.
Auden took a deep breath and rose up on his own, he didn't mean to be rude but
he didn't want the man's help in getting up. "Who exactly are you and what are
you doing in my quarters?" He took a look around and could see two separate beds
on each side of the room.
Mark watched him get up without his assistance, let it go, then stepped back.
"Mark Dexter, and with the size of this ship, I'm afraid it's our quarters.
Don't worry, I'll stay out of your way." It was only a guess, but Mark had no
desire to make the man uncomfortable, and he seemed to have expected privacy.
Auden was so frustrated he hadn't even noticed his certain arousal to the fact
that there was a half naked, very well toned man in front of him. He quickly
used one of his bags to cover a certain area and moved over to the empty bed
throwing his stuff there and taking a seat, he hoped that Mark hadn't noticed.
"Listen. I am sorry for being so forward with you. I had been expecting my own
quarters; it was supposed to have been arranged." He looked up at the tall man,
who was much bigger than he was.
Mark noticed the other man's reaction, controlled his own. The other officer was
after all a handsome young man. Mark pulled on a shirt, then sat on his own bed.
"It's ok. Look, I'll see what I can do ok? Worse comes to worse I can crash in
the science lab"
Auden took a few deep breaths. He could do this. He was a professional Starfleet
officer and a doctor; there was no practical reason why he should make things
hard on Mark. "I do not think so Mark." He realized that he hadn't even
introduced himself, getting up he slowly and sheepishly walked over to the other
man. Auden extended his hand. "Doctor Auden Anderson."
Mark gave him a small smile, extended his hand and shook Auden's lightly. "Nice
to meet you doctor. Are you sure? I don't mind."
'He has got quite the grip…' Auden thought to himself before letting go and
taking a few steps back. "Listen. I'll be straight forward with you." He turned
around and paced himself a little bit further from Mark. "Without going into to
much detail. I sometimes have night terrors. So as long as you can deal with
being woken up every now and then…." He looked back at Mark hoping that he
wasn't freaking him out.
Mark nodded, understanding dawning. No wonder the man had wanted privacy. "Look,
everybody gets the screaming heeby jeebies from time to time. Just tell me how
you prefer to deal with them. Wake you up? Not wake you up?" He kept his tone
light, hoping to reassure Auden.
Auden chuckled lightly. He was still weary but could be convinced in time that
this could work. "Usually I wake up on my own…" He made his way back over to his
bed and sat down, for some reason it didn't seem as far away from Mark anymore.
"If you don't mind waking me up though. I mean. If it's not a problem. I would
appreciate it."
"Not a problem at all." He smiled, pulled his eyes away from the other man with
some effort. "So what kind of doctor are you?" He asked, hoping to get Auden to
relax a bit more.
"Just a medical doctor." He leaned back a bit and crossed his legs, he was
feeling more comfortable which was nice. "I haven't a specialty quite yet. I
like everything too much to specialize." He continued to tell Mark a little bit
more about his training and profession but stopped mid-sentence having realized
that he was blabbering on. "Listen. I'm sorry." Auden chuckled a bit. "Once you
get me going on medicine. It's hard to get me to shut up. What's your job Mark?"
Mark watched Auden, pleased to see the man apparently relax a bit. His
enthusiasm was apparent, and Mark felt a brief wave of jealousy, wishing there
was something he felt so passionate about. "It's fine. It was interesting,
really." He smiled. "I'm a communications expert, cryptology mostly, some
linguistics."
Auden sat up a little bit straighter, "Really? How interesting. Do you speak any
other languages other than English?"
Mark wasn't sure if the interest was feigned or genuine, but he smiled anyway.
"Yes, a few."
"That is so neat!" Auden sounded quite enthused. "I have always wanted to learn
another language; I tried when I was younger but just couldn't get my head
around it. It truly takes a talent of which I just do not possess."
"I'm sure if you really put your mind to it, you'd be fine. But that's what the
universal translator is for, right?" Mark felt rejuvenated by the man's
enthusiasm. Whatever had caused his skittish behavior earlier obviously hadn't
damaged his soul, which caused Mark to smile wider, then catch himself.
Auden and Mark continued to talk for a while until Auden walked over to entryway
leading into the bathroom. "I'm going to take a sonic shower and then have a
little rest. It was nice meeting you Mark." He looked up again at the man
sporting a pearly white smile.
"Yeah, nice to meet you. I'm gonna scram for awhile, let you rest." Mark smiled
back, got up and prepared to gather a few things to keep him busy outside their
temporary shared quarters.
****
Dr Auden Anderson
AMO
Mark Dexter (pnpc apb Selin)
Cryptologist/Linguist
