Does That Make Me Your Wife

Posted on Mon Oct 21st, 2024 @ 7:06pm by Lieutenant Adrianna Baciami & Lieutenant JG Zai

1,795 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Stars Around the Well
Location: Starbase # 2 - Cafe
Timeline: Current

ON:

Adrianna had made a quick retreat, fading into the crowd, and making a b-line to her quarters. Once there, she waited for the doors to shut behind her, before she leaned against them and slid down straight onto the floor, hyperventilating, gripping the ring hanging as a pendant on her chest. "He's gone, Adrianna," she kept repeating to herself in her native tongue, "he's gone."

She allowed herself to cry for the first time in a long time. It was like she was losing him all over again. It hurt more than she thought it would. She had braced herself for this situation, but when the time came, she couldn't shut herself up.

---

Hours passed and Adrianna managed to pull herself together. She replicated an archive box and started packing up his stuff. She wouldn't even keep a copy for herself. This was his and needed to be returned in full. Pictures, digitized journals, half drunk bottle of his favourite whiskey, half a bottle of her family grappa that contained her family photo. One handwritten journal. His favourite 'lucky' jacket that he had chosen not to wear that day. A small bottle of his cologne. A digital cheque for just over 1 million-- it had been the bounty money, plus what she had found in his apartment on Earth, along with a reimbursement for where she had split the funds to a charity close to Vance's heart. A few other mementoes were also placed in there. Finally, she took off his ring from the chain around her neck and she sighed, hesitating, but soon adding it to the box.

She wrote a small note for him and placed It into the box too. It simply read:

Vance,
I am sorry for how I acted when I saw you today.
I'm normally a bit more put together, but I was a little blind sided to see you so soon into my search for you.
I took all your stuff thinking you were dead and dealt with everything how you had asked me to once. I'm sorry that I acted prematurely, my sources had been wrong about your demise. I hope it didn't hinder your life too much and if it did, know that I owe you a life debt that you can cash in at any time.
Sorry,
Adrianna Baciami
(Aka Adrianna Reggimi)

Closing the box, she went to call Zai, but in an act of bravery, messaged Vance directly, simply saying: 'I owe you an apology and I have some of your things. Free for a drink? From, the crazy woman who shouted at you today.'

Vance who had been thinking on the weird encounter all morning looked at his screen. He was in his quarters, as he had a few days off. He had just been about to message the woman from earlier. He had gotten her name from Zai, who'd stayed behind after she left to ensure that he was okay.

Odd, I was just about to suggest getting a drink on my tab.

He sighed and then hit the sent message.

Hearing the ding of the message, she smiled and took a breath. She changed into some civilian clothes. Nothing that screamed date, just something casual and relaxed. She was off duty after all. The woman grabbed the box, looking around, checking that nothing else was left of his, and headed to the bar on base.

Seeing him, she found herself getting nervous and almost backed out, but her brain forced her to just get it over with. Adrianna slid on a seat opposite his, placing the box on the table, "Thank you for meeting me, Vance." She tapped the box, "what's left of your things."

He took the box hesitantly. "Um...thanks. I'm not sure if I'll remember this...the medics were not sure if I'll ever remember things. The life gives you lemons I guess you make lemonade...or start over." He felt nervous but there was something that felt familiar. He smiled. "I'm sorry if I caused you upset."

She smiled and nodded, "it wasn't your fault. Zai had told me that your memories weren't there anymore and I'd braced myself but--" she shrugged and caught the eye of the bartender who seemed to know her and know her order. He poured a triple grappa for her and then left the couple alone, "still-- I am sorry. For a lot of things really, but without your memories, I guess I only have to apologize for making a scene earlier. So, I'm sorry." There was an attempt at humour there, but she shook her head, ridding a glimpse of a smile, before sipping her drink. The familial burn helped calm her nerves making her finally give him eye contact, "if you ever do get your memories back-- know that I will need a lot of these and maybe a full hour to get through the list." She tapped the rim of her glass, allowing it to ring a little.

He smiled. "I have no idea how it will be if I get them back. Part of me wants to but another part is scared. Zai mentioned a few things that...well the person I am now kind of contradicts what I was. Apparently I wasn't a fan of Starfleet." He smiled. "But I could see what he said about you."

"There are things Zai doesn't know," she smiled, "you weren't exactly not a fan of Starfleet-- you just weren't to open about it. You started out in Starfleet though." She paused, "wait, what did he say about me?"

Vance laughed a little. "He said that I was borderline obsessed with you the moment you warned me about the Poker game. That your life was more important to me then my own. That you made me dream of things i didn't dare to dream about."

Adrianna blushed, biting her lips and stifling a laugh as she looked down into her glass, "si, well, it caused a beautiful bond between us, I must say." She looked back at him, "in the box, there is a data PaDD. It has all of your journals digitized on. You were meticulous in note taking. I won't embarrass you and quote pages, but just know that Zai was right. The old you was-- merde-- the old you was something special. And I'm sure that the current you is as well-- sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you aren't now." She sipped her drink, "it's weird talking about you in the past tense when you're technically still you."

He laughed. "Don't worry about it." He didn't know it but what he said next was something he always used to say. "The past, the present, and the future are all one. The universe is s cycle. We have been, are now, and are going to be all the things we were, are, will be." He chuckled. "Sorry I seem to always say that. People on my ship call me the fortune cookie."

"Clearly some things never change," she commented with a chuckle, "you always used to say it after one of us incasinato le cose-- screwed things up. Well, after you made us pay and stewed a little on it-- though, it's the first time you've ever said it to me." Adrianna ran her fingers through her hair and grinned, "I'm joking-- this is like... Seven or eight."

He laughed. He sat back studying her. "Sumarian Sunrise."

"Hm?" She looked at him a little confused.

"Your eyes. When they go through emotions they are like sumarian sunset the drink. The seem to change within the rainbow." It was something he'd said to her often. He sat up. "That sounds a bit familiar."

She blushed and nodded looking down into her drink, "there's a journal entry or two that will tell you why it is familiar, Amore mio." She cleared her throat and sipped her drink before saying, "I want you to know that I don't expect anything--" Adrianna paused, hesitating but she needed the closure, "even if you did get your memories back, I do not expect anything. The way things ended-- look, regardless of what was going through your deficiente-- stupid-- brain of yours at the point where we parted ways, I want you to know that what you did-- that was an act of heroism. Stupidity. But heroism. There will be nothing that I can do to ever repay you. In your previous life, or this one-- know that I owe you my life. If a time comes when you need a big favour-- call me, ok?"

She then paused and said something she had said to him at every goodbye they had between smuggling runs, "And, for the love of any gawd that listens, if you find yourself on Freecloud, sat in Bernie's, don't eat the chicken and even if you do-- remember that fifteen minutes is still fifteen minutes. You shouldn't keep an Italian waiting."

She finished her drink and stood up, "I don't know if you are looking for answers, but if you are, I hope that you can find them in that box."

He gave a nod. "Can we...Can I ask you some questions as I'm going through this?"

"As long as I'm in range, I'll always be at the end of a line-- my Vance, or not, Amore mio," she replied, "but know that I will have to keep anything encrypted. We shouldn't have happened -- I could lose my job if the real truth came out. I lied on official reports in an act of self preservation, so that I could stay working and bury myself in work as a distraction. The code on the data PaDD by the way-- Reggimi 1997. I've written it on a note in the box."

He gave a nod. "Do you know what I realized?"

She was about to walk away, but looked to him, still sat there. It almost felt like déjà vu, "what, Amore mio?"

"Well Zai said I was Vance Adams. I remember being Vance Reggimi. He said you used to use that name when we were together."

She snorted, "si, my handler thought it was amusing to take me back from being Baciami, meaning kiss me, to Reggimi, meaning hold me. It just stuck. My real surname is Baciami-- like the drink."

"So does that make me your wife?"

Adrianna chuckled looking at the floor, but there was a touch of sadness in her eyes. She shook her head, "Oh, Amore mio. Even when you aren't you-- you're still a cazzone." She put her hand on his shoulder, squeezing It a little, "if you need me, call me. I owe you."

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