PART II - Cancelled Plans

Posted on Mon Nov 25th, 2024 @ 10:56pm by Lieutenant Adrianna Baciami & Lieutenant JG Zai
Edited on on Mon Nov 25th, 2024 @ 10:59pm

1,888 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Stars Around the Well
Location: USS Arcadia
Timeline: Before the Dead Zone Entry

ON:

Adrianna felt like hell the next morning. She felt like she had slept well, it was just the fact that she had slept in the exact same position all night. Her body was aching. She tried to stretch and get the ache to dull, but it wasn't quite working in her favor.

Stepping out of her room in his lucky shirt, she looked over and saw Vance asleep on her sofa. She couldn't help but smile. She grabbed two coffees, placing them on the coffee table near him before she leaned in and kissed his lips softly, stroking her fingers over his stubble so gently.

Vance, who hadn't fallen asleep until a few hours ago, slowly found his way to consciousness. He groaned. "Wa zime zit?"

She showed him the time, before kissing him again. She then sat down on the floor in front of him, with her back to him, handing him his coffee. Some things never changed-- she still struggled to speak before coffee. It was amusing, really-- it started as a great way to get intel and then turned into habit-- so much so, that her body gave in and just agreed that it was the only way to live.

He sipped the coffee and sighed. It took several minutes for him to come to. "Ambrosia..."

She raised a brow as she sipped her coffee, confused by his word.

"The coffee is what I needed." He sighed. "So your mother answered."

She smiled and looked at the message. Adrianna sighed and nodded she continued sipping her coffee. She leaned her head back on the sofa seat, looking up at him.

"I saw the message."

"Worried?" She simply asked.

"Well you're keeping something from me...so yes."

Adrianna looked at him curiously. She had only ever lied to him for work related things-- never anything else. It didn't hurt her feelings, she knew how it looked. She sat back up and scrolled for a moment before showing it to him. It was a message from her mother: "Why don't you extend your trip to Rome? Get married on the vineyard. All the family is here-- why not? It is tradition to marry on the vineyard. Will he be getting the traditional Baciami tattoo for marriage too? I can see he has tattoos. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

The woman looked at Vance as he read, sipping her coffee a bit quicker, hoping to be able to speak properly soon.

"Oh." He relaxed. "Sounds good. I'm alright with the wedding being anywhere. As long as you marry me." He grinned.

"Amore mio, I spent so long lying to you, that I will not actively do so again, not like this," she paused to sip some more coffee before adding, "I did not want to mention this because we are not picking up from where we left off. You said no. I did not want to --" she gestured a motion as if to throw something on him, "if we are not there. I know that you have asked permission, but it does not mean that you want to marry me in a few short weeks."

"Adri I'd marry you tomorrow if you'd let me. We're on a ship, with a Captain who can do that."

She blushed and smiled, "I am just saying. I will not sit here and lie to you and say that I wasn't upset when you said no to picking up where we left off. But I understood the rationale. Equally, I will not lie to you and say that I have not considered that, nor what my mother is requesting, but I will not be rushing this because you have wedding fever owing to Zai and Sabastian. I do not wish to be compared."

"I'm not but Sabastian said something to me. He says why start over when you can just go from where you met again. If the love is there and real then all else, no matter what, will fall into place."

She smiled. Sabastian was wise. "The tattoo my mother speaks of-- it has been family tradition since the early 1900s," Adrianna finished her coffee and placed the mug on the coffee table before turning to face him. She rested her hand on his knee and her chin on top of it, "my ancestor, Giuseppe Baciami, was called up to go to war. He was madly in love. There was no time to get married and not could he afford the ring or the marriage license. They tattooed rings on their fingers. A wedding ring could be lost and such. This way they were married regardless of paper and regardless ring."

Adrianna knew that they had an hour or so before work, but chose to keep the full history short, "Fast forward generations and similar stories, to my parents: they tattooed each other's rings because life got in the way. In fact, my father proposed by doing it. Between a number of political issues, business problems and deaths and illnesses within the family, their wedding was put off several times. But, in the eyes of the family-- they were married. When they got opportunity, they married at the vineyard." She paused and smiled, allowing Vance to process what she was saying, leaving the question unasked yet still hanging in the air.

"I like that idea." He said. "Let's keep it going then. Tattoos as rings....I'm still getting us wedding rings though."

"You'd allow me to tattoo you? You are brave or stupid," she chuckled before turning a little serious, "I am serious though. Amore mio, if we do this-- we're married according to family tradition though. You understand that, si?"

"Of course." He smiled. "Now I feel better."

She eyed him as if being cautious, unsure if he was actually getting what she was saying. Adrianna finally nodded, "I want a real proposal this time. Then it's simply time to do this. I travel light, so there is already room for you here."

He laughed. "I was planning on one. Your brother is keeping the ring safe for me."

She nodded, though wasn't exactly smiling. Perhaps she had misunderstood what he wanted. "Well, if you opt for the Baciami way of doing things, then I will be around. Otherwise, I need a shower and to hide this shirt from you and then I need breakfast and to get to work--not necessarily in that order," she kissed him softly and then held out her hand for him to help her up from the floor from his seat on the sofa.

"Wait...wait wait." He said. "Where's the disconnect."

She looked confused, loosening up her shoulder and neck from the poor sleep position still, "hm?"

"I do want to do things the Baciami way...I mean I will be taking your last name if your family will allow it...I just want you to wear my engagement ring too...is that so bad?"

She looked at him, taking in what he had said, "here was me hoping for Adams as a surname-- I will meet you in the middle: Baciami-Adams." She cocked her head to the side a little, looking over him, "I can wait if you want to wait for a ring. I'm just saying that if you want to do things the Baciami way, I would prefer that you ask me properly instead of just agreeing and going along with it. This is a compromise-- marriage without a wedding, with a promise of a wedding. This is a big deal for me, Vance. It means so much because there is a positive element of finality to it."

He smiled. "Well I was planning on proposing properly....at the family shindig..." He grinned. "Baciami-Adams works!"

She smiled, "If you want the tattoos and the 'marriage' that comes with it, I still want a proposal-- even for the tattoos. Something better than a promise of retirement and tossing me a box." Adrianna paused, thinking for a moment, "if we do this, there's no backing out-- even if you end up hating my family."

He sighed. "Why do I have a feeling there is a miscommunication here?"

Adrianna looked very confused. "Let's start again," she insisted.

He sighed and took a swig of coffee. "Right so your family's tradition is tattoo rings and marriage at the vineyard, right?"

Adrianna nodded, looking at him curiously.

"Okay I agree to that. Now the other part of this is the proposal right?"

Adrianna nodded, "si, you want to wait until you have a ring, which I gave back to you and you have given to my brother for safe keeping."

"Yes...um...I asked Gio if it was okay to propose at the family function, he has the only ring we have from my parents...did you want me to propose earlier?"

She was silent for a moment, processing and trying to formulate her words, "I am saying that these tattoos are as good as marriage in the eyes of my family-- they are a promise of a marriage when we have opportunity." Adrianna blushed, almost embarrassed to ask it of Vance, "I am saying that I want to be asked properly before I mark my skin. Is that so wrong? I appreciate that it means two proposals, but-- and this is a lack of language to explain, so do not take offence-- but this means more to me than a ring."

He sighed. "I was going to propose before we did the tattoos for sure....I just thought since you are close to your family you would want them there for the proposal....I'm sorry I didn't mean to ..."

Adrianna placed a hand softly on his cheek and drew him in to kiss him. There was such love and gentleness to her kiss. When she pulled away, a small smile graced her lips as she gazed into his eyes, "do not apologize. You were right in what you thought. Honestly, I'd take both. But that is me being selfish. I will await your proposal... Proposals. I just want you-- if it means waiting, I will wait. If it means that you feel bold enough to make that promise of the Baciami way, then you already know my answer because my love for you never changed."

He smiled. "Well, perhaps....both will work." He leaned his forehead against hers. "You're right I should have considered both. I've been so nervous about your family not liking me..."

"You didn't know," she smiled, taking a breath and closing her eyes, enjoying just being this close to him, "in reference to my family potentially not liking you-- you forget one key thing about Italian families, especially mine."

"What's that?"

"The matriarch is the most powerful person in the family," she grinned, pulling away from him a little, "and she loves you. Therefore, everyone else does too. Not to mention one other point that means that you have nothing to fear--" she then kissed him between each word, "You. Are. Capitan. Vance. Adams."

He smiled. "I love you Adrianna. So much."

"I know," she chuckled and pulled away heading for her bathroom, "I need to get ready for work, but I will see you tonight-- I promise that I will actually join you for dinner tonight."

OFF:

 

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