Reunited

Posted on Thu Mar 5th, 2015 @ 7:54pm by Lieutenant Commander Ethan Chaparral MD & Lieutenant Dylan Santiago

Mission: Reman Z
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: TBD

The first sensation Ethan noticed was nothingness, that is to say the absence of pain It was as if he was floating. He had, had a really, really bad nightmare. It had all started in the lounge with meeting some bimbo of a guy that wanted to ravage his body, and steal him away from Dylan. Then things had spiraled downhill from there. But it had all must been a fantastically realistic nightmare Nothing more than that.

Then as he fully awakened, there was a return of sensation. Pressure, perhaps even some pain, though that was held in check by all the drugs coursing through his body. He slowly opened his eyes then quickly closed them against the perceived glare. It suddenly came to him, that it had not been a dream at all, but Andorian moon cold reality. But he was safe now wasn't he? He'd been rescued. That was the last thing he remembered anyway being carried out and into a shuttle. He opened his eyes again. This time the light was a little less harsh. He looked to his right and felt as if someone had just kneed him in the balls. His right arm was missing.

Without thinking, he let out a scream.

Dylan had fallen asleep by Ethan's bed. The Intel chief hadn't left his ex lover's side from the moment that they had brought him back on board. The scream however, had proven a rude awakening and in less than a second he was up and out of his chair, reaching for Ethan as he said "Hey! Shhhh....it's me Dylan. You're all safe now and I'm never going to let anyone ever do anything to you ever again." He had seen Ethan when they had arrived back and to say that he'd been traumatised himself was an understatement. That someone could be so evil as do that to another sentient lifeform was abhorrent beyond belief. To think that they had done it to the man he loved was more so. Dylan had shed his own tears whilst Ethan was unconscious so now it was his turn to be strong.

Ethan's heart had started hammering in his chest when he'd seen he really was missing his arm. In his mind he was back in that torture chamber with Ian gloating and taunting him. Until he heard his lover's voice. There was no thought of ex any longer. He felt safe, hearing that voice, well safer anyway, he wasn't sure if he would ever feel truly safe again.

His eyes opened again and he forced himself not to look at his missing limb, but only at Dylan.

"Am I in trouble?" he asked, "I was going to talk. Give Ian everything he wanted. I was going to give him the information on the bio-weapon."

"Course you're not in trouble." Dylan met Ethan's eyes as he held him, "The fact is you didn't talk and even if you had no-one could have blamed you...I'd have sung like a canary way before you that's for sure." he leaned down and kissed his forehead tenderly as he added "I thought I'd lost you."

The kiss and the reassuring words helped him relax just a bit, his heart rate to slow down. He believed that Dylan would keep him safe, or at least try. "You're stronger than me. You always were. You wouldn't have talked, you would have found a way to escape. But thanks for saying that. I can't believe I even went to meet him. I mean I went looking for you and you were busy, so I figured what the hell. Its just a drink.

But then I got there and I wanted to leave, before I even met him. All I could think about was you. And how much I loved you. I even let him kiss me." He shook his head. You know I never wanted to kill someone. Not really. But Ian, Ian I want to kill that bastard."

"Well you're gonna have to get in line because I'm getting him first." Dylan growled, "No-one does this to the man I love and gets away with it." he added, finally at ease with the fact that there was no-one else in the entire universe that he wanted more than Ethan Chaparral. "When I saw him kiss you...I thought I'd lost my mind. I was so angry." he commented, forgetting that Ethan didn't know that he had seen them together.

"You, you saw that?" Oh gods, Dylan I'm so sorry. It wasn't my idea. I mean I'd just finished telling him that I was already in a relationship. that I loved someone else and that's when he kissed me. I can't believe he did that, I can't believe I didn't stop him."

"Relax...the man was a pro. I know that now." Dylan whispered, "Even if you and I had been properly back together he probably still would have managed to seduce you. Sociopaths are like that. They can put on a show yet not mean a word of it." then he paused before admitting "I won't deny though...hurt like hell at the time."

"I didn't intend that, I didn't want to hurt you. I never want to hurt you. But are you saying that we are properly back together now? That would mean the world to me. But you don't have to you know. I mean look at me, the bones, they'll heal. They've already started to but I only have one arm now and did you see what he did? Ian's property is carved into my chest. How can you stand to see that staring you in the face every time you look at me?"

"First of all whether you're missing an arm or not, I love you." Dylan kissed him on the cheek, "And secondly, you should take a look." he raised the sheet a little to reveal Ethan's chest and smiled as he added "Your boss does good work...you'd never notice it was ever there."

The barest hint of a smile crossed Ethan's face. "Well thank God for that. The miracles of modern medicine. And I love you too. I never want to lose you again. I want to be with you forever."

"Marry me." Dylan said softly, pulling back so that he could search Ethan's features for a response.

Ethan's eyes lost their focus for a moment. He didn't believe he was hearing those words and wasn't quite sure what to say. He wanted to ask if Dylan meant it but that was stupid. Of course he meant it. Dylan had his faults, but he would never say something he didn't mean. He blinked a few times than stared into the other man's eyes. Finally he nodded his head.

"Well I never thought I'd get a proposal like this, " he said, "but yeah, yeah, of course I'll marry you. You're the only man I've ever really loved. How could I say no?"

"I'm sorry...guess I should have waited for a better moment than this." Dylan replied, Ethan's answer not really computing "I understand if you need time...hell you've just been tortured. I picked a really, really bad time to do this didn't I?" he groaned and then looked up sharply as he added "Did you just say yes?"

"Of course I said yes,"Ethan replied, the smile growing marginally larger, "I don't need any more time. And I'm not going to change my mind. We uh may have to sleep with the lights on, but I never want to sleep with anyone else but you. I don't want to be with anyone else but you."

"Then I guess once you're better we're getting married." Dylan grinned widely as he gazed into Ethan's eyes and whispered "I love you so much it hurts."

"Well then I better get better fast, now shouldn't I? And if you love me, you better kiss me again. Just carefully."

"You're gonna be the bossy one in our marriage aren't you?" Dylan murmured before tenderly kissing Ethan on the lips a warmth spreading through him that had been missing since the day that he had left the other man.

"You have no idea how good that feels," Ethan said after the kiss had broke, "and I will try to control myself. I mean about the bossiness. Now could you ask someone to give me something to sleep. I need the rest and I want to dream. Dream about you, about us and not Ian."

"Of course." Dylan nodded, letting Ethan go and standing up, "I'll go fetch the doc but I'll be right here by the side of you if you need anything during the night okay?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Just don't neglect your duties or the Captain is going to get pissed at both of us."

"Oh hush...she knows the score." Dylan chided Ethan gently before heading off to find the doctor.

Ethan's eyes followed Dylan out of the room and had to force himself to keep calm as he left the isolation area. He was back almost immediately with a nurse in tow. When they got closer Ethan looked at his fiance and said, "Stay here now. Promise you won't leave me. I know it sounds stupid, but I don' want to... I'm afraid of being alone."

"They'll have to drag me out of here kicking and screaming." Dylan smiled, reaching out to caress Ethan's cheek, "I won't go anywhere I promise and I'll be here when you wake up."

Ethan smiled again and let the fingers of his remaining hand entwine with Dylan's. The nurse came over then and pressed a hypo to the man's neck. As he started to drift off, all the tension and fear that had been etched in his face slowly dissipated. The sedative had little to do with Ethan's relief, almost exclusively it was the proximity of his lover.

A joint post by
Lt. Ethan Chaparral
ACMO
USS Hera
&

Lt. Dylan Santiago
Chief Intel Officer
USS Hera