Erika

2150

            “Good morning Captain Jonathan Beckett Archer,” Erika whispered. Jon felt her snuggle towards him in the bed. He wasn’t ready to be awake just yet. Although he never drank to the point of a hangover, one corner of his head lightly pounded with his pulse. He felt her waiting just inches from his head, waiting for him to face her. Maybe he could pretend to be asleep just five more minutes. Of course that wasn’t working. Erika Hernandez was as bold and brash as Jonathan, perhaps more so. She was in control at that moment, Commander or Captain, it didn’t matter. "Ohhh,K..."

            “Oh stop,” he laughed when she dug her fingers into his bare ribs. He almost doubled over. “Stop! No, don’t – stop, Erika!” he choked out the words. He quickly rolled over to the center and when he looked up at her, she finally stopped. He held still but kept looking at her from the middle of his bed, wondering if the pleasant torture had really ended. A moment later she straddled Jonathan and leaned down to kiss him.

          He kissed her back, lightly, then picked up a spare pillow and popped her on the head. Then he lifted her small frame up off his chest and set her aside before he rolled back and pulled the blanket over his head. “It’s O-600. I’m not getting up”.

            “I’m going to put some coffee on, Captain. We could use some after last night”. She hopped up and yanked the covers down to the foot of the bed. “And you are going to get up!” She vanished from the bedroom in a twirl of pale blue leaving Jonathan exposed to the cool room air, still undressed from the night before.

          Groaning, and unable to go back to sleep, Jonathan sat up, looked around and found a robe tangled under the covers. He wandered into the kitchen where Erika stood innocently waiting for their coffee to perk the old fashioned way, in a tall electric pot. He walked up close to her, face to face, and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. He put his face in her hair, kissing her neck once, quickly.

            “Oh, Honey, really? In the kitchen?” she teased.

            “No, Houston, we have a problem,” he said quietly in her ear.

            “No, Houston, I don’t think so,” she said, shifting her weight against him, pulling his belt loose and slipping her arms inside his robe and around his waist to touch his bare skin. The natural fabric of her raw silk negligee drew across him. The sound of the coffee perking in the electric pot grew louder. Jonathan grinned and looked her in the face.

            “Yes, we do,” he countered. He pushed away from her a few centimeters, unwillingly, and tried to answer her puzzled expression without words. Her eyes were such a dark chocolate color he could barely make out where the iris met the pupil, but a glint of light appeared and he focused on that. “You’re right,” he said and drew a deep breath. “I’m a captain now, Commander.”

            They looked at each other’s faces. His green eyes were solemn, without their usual curiosity and mischief. His brows pushed together, but he still smiled. He thought perhaps she might be partly asleep or hungover still, not really thinking about the implications of his promotion. But he had been thinking about them for weeks, maybe months if he really admitted it. And then her face fell from playful to bittersweet. She reached up to touch his cheek softly, sadly. The pot sputtered and fizzled, finished with its job, and fell silent.

            “I could resign my commission,” she stated with a brave face.

            “Nooo,” and he slowly shook his head. “No, you know that’s not an option. I wouldn’t let you do that.”

            “We can just decline assignments or missions together,” she offered.

            “I’m going to command the first Warp 5 ship in Starfleet.” He pulled away from her and took a step back. “A captain and a commander, it’s just not appropriate. I just became your superior officer. We’re both active duty.”

            Erika turned away from Jonathan and attended to the coffee pot with fictitious urgency but said nothing.

            “I care about you, Erika. I could never ask you to change who you are. And you are a Starfleet commander. You have a career ahead of you, a lifetime of work for where you are, where you’re going. We are cut out of the same cloth, you and me. ”

            “What if I’m assigned to your crew?”

            “I have the final say on every officer, every member of my crew, my ship. Enterprise will launch in six months“.  Jonathan sighed. “I have no choice, Erika. We have to break it off. We’re at a turning point in our lives.” Inside his chest his heart pounded and he was sure she could hear it. He set his jaw firmly and refused to let the emotion genie out of the bottle. He had to be strong on two fronts. He couldn’t let her see his excitement inside that drove him to this pivotal moment.

“I’m going to be gone a long time. I can’t expect you to put your life on hold.” He paused, and smoothed her hair gently, pulling it into a single long lock then draping it over her shoulder.  She turned back around to face him. “We have to go in different directions now…alone”. Watching her eyes threaten tears was more than he could stand. He looked away.

            Jonathan was grateful for their last night together. After such a magical night of friends, Champagne, music, food, of laughter and congratulations, he had been sure that the only remaining thing to do was fall into bed and sleep. Erika, however, had had other plans. They were alike: strong leaders, courageous, with a purpose to explore space farther, and faster, than any other humans had ever done.  They understood each other at their very core.

She was fading from him. He felt her energy, the affection, withdraw. It exchanged with something else. It was something honest, something solid, something distant.  Although indoors, the winter air seemed infiltrate the room.

“My feelings for you will never change. But I have to do this.”

“I know. I understand, Jonathan. You’re a monogamous man. Enterprise is your new lover.” She handed him the cup of coffee. The dancing light had gone out of her eyes. Once again she gently touched his face, still unshaven, and walked away.