Security - Keith R. A. DeCandido [26]
Again, she nodded. “Wasn’t the first time—usually I tried to spend the anniversary with someone, just to remind myself that I was capable of feeling something. And also…also to distract myself. Most of the time, I don’t think about Izar or Dar or Vale at all. It was a little hard when she came on with La Forge that time, but I managed. On the anniversary, though…”
Shaking his head, Fabian said, “God, no wonder that new kid set you off. And Ken and Ted’s death—must’ve been déjà vu to have another crazy homicide like that.”
Domenica wiped her eyes with the back of the hand that Fabian wasn’t holding. “Actually, no, it wasn’t. Honestly, it didn’t occur to me to consider it similar. Like I said, I don’t think about it.” She let out a snort. “And when I do think about it, I don’t consider it a homicide investigation, I think of it as the day I had to kill the man I loved.”
Fabian couldn’t help but hear bitterness and guilt in her tone. Life in Starfleet had given him plenty of firsthand experience with both, and he quickly said, “Dom, this wasn’t your fault.”
“Right.” Domenica yanked her hand out from under Fabian’s and stood up. Her flannel robe swished about her legs in a manner Fabian might have found erotic under better circumstances. “Eight years, Fabe. Dar and I were lovers for eight years. In all that time, I had no clue that he was psychotic. You mind telling me whose fault it is?”
“His.”
That brought Domenica up short. She turned around and faced him with a confused look on her face. “What?”
“It’s Ableen’s fault, Dom. You say you had no clue—how were you supposed to? There’ve been, what, two documented cases of this kind of homicidal insanity in the Federation in the last hundred years?”
“Something like that,” she said quietly.
Getting up from the bed, Fabian put his hands on her broad shoulders. They were about the same height, with Domenica a few centimeters shorter—which had always struck Fabian as odd, since he felt shorter than her—so he could look her right in her tear-streaked eyes when he said, “There was no way you could’ve known, Dom. The only thing you could have done was what you did.”
She looked away. “I wish I could believe that.”
“Well, since it’s actually true, there’s no good reason why you shouldn’t.”
Blinking away more tears, Domenica looked back at him. “Fabe, I—”
“Senior staff and S.C.E. team, report to the bridge.”
Fabian closed his eyes and sighed. “Timing is everything.”
Wiping the tears, Domenica was suddenly “Core-Breach” again. “They must have found Lense and Bashir.” Without any hesitation, she removed her robe and went over to the closet to grab a uniform.
Fabian found himself admiring the view—and was encouraged by her lack of self-consciousness around him. “You want me to meet you there?”
As she started to get dressed, she said, “No, we can go up together.”
That prompted a smile. After that first night, she had formally requested that they never speak of it again, and when they were summoned to the observation lounge, she had gone ahead, not wanting to be seen walking in with him.
After she got her uniform jacket on, she walked up to him and kissed him. Fabian was a bit taken aback, and so it took him a moment to return the kiss. There was a bit of a salty taste from the tears that had streaked down to her mouth, but Fabian found he didn’t mind.
“Thank you,” she whispered after the kiss broke.
“For what?” he whispered back.
“A lot of things. For being there when I needed you on the anniversary. For—” She chuckled. “—for ignoring me when I said that it wasn’t the start of something. And for getting me to talk tonight. Honestly, I think it’s the first time I’ve really talked about Dar and Izar since—well, ever, really.”
They started to walk toward the door. It parted on their approach. “You feel any better about it?” he asked.
“Not sure. But I’m glad I did, and I’m glad you’re the one I told.”
They held hands as they walked