Q & A - Keith R. A. DeCandido [7]
“True, but they’d be on Cestus and not here. I’ve read all the reports about that balderdash with the Borg.” Miranda straightened, then leaned forward, Beverly pulling on her Seagulls sash. “No. I want my husband and children safe. Besides,” and she cracked a grin as she leaned forward, “Vicenzo got tenure last year. I won’t be able to pry him out of the university now.”
Beverly returned the grin, having had plenty of experience with academics in her time.
“I must say, Bev,” Miranda said as they both got to their feet, “I do like that glow you’re carrying about. And it’s about bloody time too.”
“I beg your pardon?” Beverly tried to make her tone frosty, but she knew she was doing an inadequate job.
“You and the captain, love. Should’ve done that years ago, you ask me. Back on the D, we had a pool going in the sensor room. Thought for sure I’d won it after Kesprytt.”
Both women bent over to touch their toes. Beverly was able to put her palms flat on the floor, while Miranda struggled to get the tips of her fingers to brush the tops of her feet. “Well, thank you for saying I glow,” Beverly said tartly. “I wasn’t aware of any incandescence, but I’ll take your word for it.”
“You should.”
“To be honest,” Beverly said, letting out a long breath as she straightened, “I’m happy. And what’s amazing is that I know I’m happy because I’ve—we’ve…” She sighed again and let her arms fall to her sides. “We came very close a couple of times—then the Federation was swept up into the war—and even before that, the paranoia and the tensions. Starfleet needed combat doctors on the front lines, and I knew where my duty was. I think we started pushing each other away rather than face the possibility of losing each other.”
“What changed?” Miranda asked gently. They had given up any pretense of working out. The occasional shouts of the security personnel could be heard from the other side of the gym.
“The head of Starfleet Medical was retiring and wanted me to take over. The war was over, and we’d pushed each other so far away, it didn’t look like we would ever be pulled back. Data died, Will and Deanna moved on—it seemed like I should move on too. I thought I could do more on Earth.”
“And then?”
For just a moment, Beverly could hear an echo of Deanna in Miranda’s voice. She smiled. “A mission to Kevratas, one where I almost got killed, and Jean-Luc and I both realized that we were being ridiculous.” She chuckled. “You’d think with Will and Deanna finally tying the knot, one of us would’ve gotten the hint, but apparently not.”
Miranda shrugged. “If there’s one thing I learned when Vicenzo and I stumbled across each other, it’s that these things happen when they get ‘round to happening, and not a second before.”
“Where did you two meet?”
Holding up the sash, she said, “At a ball game. Vicenzo’s father is the general manager of the Sehlats, so he and I were both in the VIP seats at a PSL/Palombo game.” At Beverly’s look of confusion, Miranda added, “Sorry, PSL is Port Shangri-La, where the Seagulls play, Palombo is the city where the Sehlats play, and—”
Holding up a hand, Beverly said, “I get it. So it was love at first sight?”
“Intrigue at first sight, certainly,” Miranda said after considering it for a second. “He’s one of those tiresome academics who aren’t comfortable unless they’ve studied a subject all the way through, and so he had an amazing amount of baseball trivia in his head but no idea what any of it meant.” She grinned. “It was rather charming. I started tutoring him, and then we agreed to get together for coffee the next day.”
“How long did it take you to figure it out?”
“That we were in love?”
Beverly nodded.
“It took me a week—took him a skosh longer, I’m afraid. Again, he needed to study it thoroughly.”
“I envy you—it took both Jack and me forever.”
“And you and the captain