An Evening In

Posted on Fri Aug 7th, 2026 @ 3:15pm by Ensign Blaine McCray & Ensign T'Shai

3,531 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: ARYL 1X06: For Peaceful Purposes
Location: Blaine & T’Shai’s Quarters
Timeline: Three Days after A New Sense of Belonging

Blaine came home from work that evening with dinner under his arm from the galley. Realizing quickly that T’Shai must still be in the labs, he placed their meal containers on the table of the small dinette and stepped into the bedroom. A few minutes later, he emerged from the fresher and changed into a comfortable pair of jeans, boots, and a mint green pearl snap shirt just in time to see T’Shai walk in the door. “Hello Beautiful,” he said as the door closed behind her and he held his hands out toward her.

She smiled at him with one manicured eyebrow raised, reaching out for his hands and squeezing them, knowing her hair was still straight and down behind her, "I don't see how you can consider a uniform as beautiful." She remarked, glancing down at herself, "I happen to believe it's rather unattractive, even if I'm in it." She gave him a wink.

“It’s not necessarily the uniform, it’s the person wearin’ the uniform,” he said, blushing as he saw her wink. “I’ve got dinner when you’re ready, but feel free to grab a shower an’ relax a bit. I’ve got plans for us, but no real rush.”

"That is excellent." T'Shair inclined her head to him, "I do believe a shower is indeed in order, one of the experiments today was messy, Lieutenant Novotna wished for me to see what various types of radiation did to a blue goo. Thankfully I was wearing protective gear, or else it would have gotten in my hair and on my face."

“We can’t have blue goo all over your face and hair. Seriously, I’m glad you were wearin’ PPE.” He cocked his head. “What sort of experiments were you runnin’?”

"Studying the effects of radiation on a nitrogen-silicon-titanium compound suspended in a gel." T'Shai exhaled and made a disgusted face, watching for his reaction out of the corner of her vision, "It was rather disgusting and in a couple cases, explosive, but 'safely' explosive. It accelerated the heat transfer to the titanium, causing the gel to be dramatically redistributed in the immediate area. Still, I'll be glad for a shower."

Blaine found himself genuinely laughing at her description. “Dramatic redistribution is the best description for explosion I think I’ve ever heard! I love the Vulcan mastery of the understatement.” He spotted the disgusted look on her face and kissed her cheek. “I’ll tell you like Melody, my human grandmother, always told me when I made faces. “Don’t do that too long, it’ll get stuck that way.”

She smiled broadly at the comment, ‘Good, it was acceptable.’ T’Shai thought to herself, “It’s just like ‘spontaneous disassembly’ or ‘impromptu dissociation’, I will have to make a habit of surprising you with intriguing metaphors for common scenarios, you know, to liven up the conversations.” She leaned in and gave him a return kiss on the cheek, “I’ll be out in just a few minutes, then you can show me the culinary delights that you picked up tonight.”

"An' I have a few of those as well, havin' grown up on the ranch. My granddad would say stuff all the time like that. I hope you like the food. I got a few things so we can have some variety in case you'd like to try somethin' new," Blaine said, turning his head just quick enough to catch her lips. "Go get that shower. I'll be right here."

She savored the kiss for the second it lasted, then slipped off to the bedroom and the attached refresher station. The word 'few' had an actual definition, between 4 and 99 minutes was the literal translation, but it was within seven that T'Shai emerged from the bedroom all clean and dressed, hair bound back in the ponytail that Blaine had clearly enjoyed those couple nights previously, but the short-sleeved button down shirt in a blue and white pattern and black shorts that ended several inches above the knee were new. "You were saying something new?" She asked, "What sort of new items am I going to be trying tonight?"

He stood there for a moment, watching her and taking in what she was wearing, a smile on his face. He was enjoying the nightly surprise of what she would be wearing next. Though, what he liked to see more was her relaxing enough to experiment with her own style. That made him feel good. "Uhm... I got a few different vegetarian pastas, some rolls with cinnamon butter that I think you will enjoy, an' a fried onion dish called an onion mum. It's got a very good dippin' sauce."

"Those sound delectable." T'Shai struck a pose for him, one that was rather un-Vulcan in nature, arms crossed in front of her to 'enhance' her upper body slightly, legs crossed in front of her, then smiled in humour and approached, "I see you like this one, too. I may have to expand my wardrobe a fair bit." She finally approached him and raised one hand to his cheek, gently caressing it, "Thank you for being so thoughtful about dinner."

Blaine's eyes followed her through her pose. "I do like it, but again, it's the woman wearin' the clothes. You're beautiful, inside an' outside, an' so you make your clothes beautiful," he said as she approached and he felt her hand on his cheek. This was extremely important to their shared heritage, and he was very grateful that she was willing to touch him. He melted into the touch, enjoying the warmth and increased, if subtle, mental contact. "I just figured if I was hungry you would be too," he said, mumbling just a bit. He'd never been a romantic type growing up. It never seemed like a good idea knowing that he was bonded to her, but planning little things for her seemed natural.

T'Shai placed her forehead onto Blaine's for a handful of seconds before kissing where she'd placed it and moving to the opposite side of the table from him, "You were absolutely correct. You seem to be very capable of predicting my needs, long before I even think of them. It's almost as if we were meant to be. I hope that in the future I, too, will be able to predict your needs. I certainly would not wish for this to be a relationship where only I see the benefits of it."

Blaine pulled her chair out for her and adjusted it for her comfort and kissed her cheek before opening the containers of food for her inspection. “I think the longer we’re together, the more likely that will happen. I’d bet we start finishin’ each other’s sentences soon.”

“That would not surprise me if we remain in sync with each other.” T’Shai smiled back, sniffing delicately, then inhaling deeply, “It smells delicious!” Some excitement entered her voice before she tempered it back down, “I’m quite pleased there is no ‘tofu’ in this, I have found that while it is good for protein content, it has very little texture and just feels wrong in the mouth.”

“Our galley crew is quite skilled,” Blaine said, watching her survey the food as he got the plates, cutlery, and napkins out. “I specifically requested the absence of tofu. It’s completely vegetarian, but absolutely no tofu. I’m not a fan of the texture either.”

“I don’t think we’ll need the plates, T’hy’la, I was checked out by the doctor and she has assured me that I don’t have any ‘cooties’ and I’m willing to brave yours if you give me half a chance.” She said the joke with some apprehension.

“Well, Darlin’,” that’s good to know. I’m a cootie carrier, but I’ve had my shots, so you’re safe,” he said, chuckling at her joke as he put the plates up and sat down. “An’ I’ll give you all the chances.”

T’Shai giggled at his retort even as she reached out with one hand to run it down his arm as he passed, then her other hand covered her mouth while her eyes opened wider. She hadn’t meant for that to come out and her eyes automatically flickered around the room for anyone else, despite her knowing they were alone.

Blaine enjoyed the touch of her hand on his arm as he sat down, but he enjoyed the sound of her giggle even more. He saw her reaction and rested a hand on hers. “You have a beautiful laugh, T’hy’la, and our quarters are safe.”

“I know…” She glanced down at the table awkwardly, “I apologize, it is unbecoming for a Vulcan to laugh, that’s what has been expected of us.” She squirmed in her seat, clearly arguing with herself about something, but just as clearly not able to put it into words.

Blaine saw her working through two decades of training in her mind as he twined their fingers together. “Sometimes the words aren’t there, Darlin’, but you don’t have to apologize. I’m grateful that I get to be the one who gets to hear that beautiful laugh.”

“Blaine,” T’Shai looked disturbed, her mind clearly turning, “This may sound oddly formal or strange, but are you not disturbed by my flashing of emotions? I’ve been trying to be careful about showing some here and there, to gauge your reactions and you aren’t shocked or worried by them. Whenever I performed any tests back on Vulcan, I was constantly asked if I was well, or avoided or worse.”

Blaine took a moment to process what she was saying, sitting with her question for a bit before answering. “Honestly, no. Solok always told me that mates were permitted to see emotional reactions, so I guess I just assumed that’s what you were doing. Mates are a safe place to vent, I think. I know he an’ V’Ral had some private conversations. I can tell when you’re workin’ through somethin’, but I’m not gonna judge you for expressin’ yourself. You’ve got enough trouble with your dissertation board for that. An’ I understand why Vulcans do what we do, historically, an’ why they were so much of a shepherdin’ force on humanity for so long, but the truth is probably somewhere in between.”

“And yet what good our shepherding Humanity has done, no?” T’Shai asked, then shook her head fractionally as she picked up a fork and speared something, “My studies were for far more than showing emotions in front of you. In order to understand the material, I had to try to emulate all of the emotions of humanity, which was forbidden to do. Even under carefully controlled conditions and observations, there were required meditation periods I had to abide by, which disrupted my research because it took the hypothesis and broke it up rather than to allow the emotional content to flow naturally. So I didn’t. I faked the meditations after a while and altered some of the recordings to reflect an empty lab. I needed to be able to throw caution to the wind, to have that feeling of ‘Hey Y’all, watch this!’ Or ‘Hold my beer’.”

“So they hamstrung you just because of your thesis topic?” he asked, watching her. There was no judgment in his eyes, just curiosity. “And what did your expressions of emotion teach you?” More curiosity in his voice as he broke off a fried onion and dipped it in the sauce before eating it. He bit back a chuckle at her use of ‘Hey y’all, watch this!’ and ‘Hold my beer.’

“There’s a reason why some of my fellow students were calling me a heretic behind my back, where they thought I wouldn’t hear.” T’Shai exhaled deeply and closed her eyes as she ‘looked’ down at the table, then looked back up with a coy-appearing smile, “I found that emotion is a driving force for being true to one’s self.” Her eyes danced with an inner light that she had clearly been hiding most of the time before, her shoulders relaxing from the ever-tight posture she’d had, “Experimentation for the sake of finding out what something does is fun, so long as safety is kept in mind. I also learned that among Vulcans it would be easy to be ostracized if you show more than a bare minimum as a maximum, so I have learned how to do what they say is impossible for a Vulcan: I learned how to lie convincingly.”

“Oh, I’ve learned that Vulcans are some of the best liars in the Federation. As much as they preach IDIC, they put everythin’ in a stranglehold with Logic. But if you’re bein’ true to yourself, you’re not lyin’. I know I was really only accepted by Solok, V’Ral, an’ the immediate family… an’ now you, but I can’t imagine what made me an attractive match for your folks.” He thought for a moment about what she said about experimentation. “Humans definitely like knowing’ what things do, an’ what we can make ‘em do.”

“And that is precisely why Vulcans would have been a subservient race under the Romulans or Klingons had they not found and amalgamated with humans and handed them materials to experiment with.” T’Shai relaxed and carefully chewed a bite of the food, swallowing it and ‘directing’ with her fork for a minute, “Humans are said to be impulsive and willing to take unfathomable risks to see if some random idea will work. Human history for the last at least five hundred years has been filled with examples of ‘What happens when we do this?’. First flight? Then strapping on a solid fuel rocket sixty-three years later to Land someone on their moon! In between those times, losing however many people it took to get it done Sometimes just to get to that point before someone else did.”

"Darlin', that impulsive streak goes back to the very first humans. We're inquisitive by nature. Somethin' tells me you know somethin' about that," he winked at her. "We want to know what's over the horizon. An' we hate hearin' the words 'that's impossible', especially if it's just because someone says it is. I think humanity thrives because of that impulsive streak, an' we need somethin' to rebel against. The Americans had the British, the Texans had the Mexican Army, the Wrights had people tellin' 'em they'd never fly. After first contact, it was the Vulcans. Sometimes I think we just like havin' someone to thumb our noses at. We gotta know where the boundaries are an how far we can push 'em. There's an old quote from a Texas Ranger. 'There's nothin' better than ridin' a fine horse in new country.'" He sighed before looking into her eyes. "The VSA seems to think that logic is the end all an' be all, forgettin' that they have the same emotions that humanity has. That's why Vulcan kids were mean to me as a kid. That's why your classmates are horrible to you. But let me tell you somethin', it's never logical or excusable to treat someone poorly because they're different, an' it breaks my heart that it happens to you."

T’Shai hesitated for a moment then nodded internally, placing her fork back on the table, “Blaine, I want you to close your eyes for me, then I don’t want you to open them no matter what you hear, what you feel, for nothing. Can you do that for me?”

“Happily,” Blaine said, putting his fork down and leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.

As soon as his eyes were closed, she slid off her chair and took a half step towards him. ‘You can back out of this anytime you want, he won’t know any different.’ She told herself as she slowly and quietly approached him, unsure of herself, but she had to tell him. Nervousness caused her to tremble as she reached him, ‘You can stop. You can fall back and resume your seat.’ For a moment she almost did, but forced herself forward, “You wanted to know why my parents chose you as a match, right?”

“I do. I’m curious about what they thought of me,” he answered. His eyes were still closed, but he felt her presence in front of him, sensing her

She sat down in his lap, turning it away from the table as she did by rote strength, wrapping her arms around and pressed her lips against his. Now there was no turning back. The kiss started off chaste, then the tip of her tongue flicked out and parted his own in a VERY un-Vulcan manner, though it wasn’t unknown to them, it wasn’t common. But it provided a direct mental connection to him, especially as her hands met each other at the base of his lips, ‘Its because I told them too, because when we first met, I felt you were different, that you could understand me as no one else would be able to.’ She knew he would hear it in his mind.

Blaine had not been expecting her to sit in his lap, though he had grown accustomed to the feeling of her body against his as he had held her chastely each night since her arrival. Even her arms around him didn’t elicit too much upheaval within him. But she stole his breath utterly with the kiss and the way it morphed from their morning and evening greetings into the most pivotal moment he had thus far experienced. His arms encircled her tightly, leaving no room between them as he returned the kiss, eyes still closed. Then her words echoed through his mind. It hadn’t been her parents at all, but her that had chosen him. Blaine’s heart swelled with love and pride at that knowledge as his mind answered her. ‘I am yours, T’hy’la, and I love you.’

'And I am yours.' She responded, never letting up on the kiss until they had to come up for air and she reopened her own eyes to look into his, not the slightly dispassionate that she had tried to keep whenever possible, but filled with emotional content, love and perhaps a little bit of lust to go along with it. "I have loved you for many years, Blaine, from a distance. I merely have not been in a position to be able to express it before now."

As Blaine’s breath slowly returned, a hand gently trailed fingertips over her back and he looked into her eyes, his own carrying the flame of love. “I wish I’d known how you felt, but I will certainly give you every opportunity to express it from now on… and I will make sure that you know every day that you’re loved.”

"Only in private." T'Shai whispered to him, refusing to release him, "Out there, I must remain as as I have been, especially around T'Kal." She leaned in for another kiss, another more than thirty seconds to let him know that she wasn't remotely changing things, then as their lips parted, she began to move to her feet, hands trailing across his shoulders and down one hand to gently grasp it, "But I believe dinner can wait for a while," Her smile was coy and flirtatious as she took a step towards the bedchamber.

“I love that I’m the only person who gets to see the real you,” he said softly, standing with her as he twined their fingers and he followed her. “I’ve dreamed about this moment, T’hy’la. Dreamed that you visited me when I was staying at Solok’s estate the winter before I graduated the Academy.”

"You won't have to dream anymore, Blaine, never again if there's anything I can say about it." She veritably bounced across the threshold into the room, "If I could have left Vulcan to visit, I would have, but there was no way." She spun in place as she reached the bed, releasing his hand to wrap her arms around his neck once more, quite grateful that she was his height and that neigher of them had had a growth spurt, "But never parted again, perhaps in body, but never in soul."

Blaine’s green eyes flashed as he saw her twirl. “Worla dashau va’ashiv,” (never separated again), he whispered softly as he took her in his arms and pulled her close before letting the kiss carry him. His fingers found the elastic tie that held her hair and he pulled it off, letting her hair flow freely.

"Not what I would have thought you'd take off first..." T'Shai murmured, bringing her hands around to his chest and starting to undo the snaps, "But... Let's start the experiment..."

(end?)

 

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