Plus One

Posted on Sun Nov 22nd, 2015 @ 11:50pm by Lieutenant Rianna DiMarco
Edited on on Mon Nov 23rd, 2015 @ 12:09pm

Mission: The Belle of Bellatrix
Location: Main Engineering

DiMarco hurried out of science following the call to the XO. There was a heaviness to her gut and a tightness to her shoulders that said everything was getting really bad, really fast and she had to get ready to do something- because for whatever reason she seemed to be keeping her head together. Probably, she thought, because she'd already been through the ringer in her life. Crazy wasn't a side effect, it was a coping mechanism to get you through the scrapes that your body insists that you just aren't going to make it through. She shuddered as she hit the hallway which was oddly deserted. Far away she heard the sound of someone yelling for someone named Mary, but she didn't recognize the voice. By the time she reached the turbolift, she couldn't help but lace her fingers through Sal's protectively, her larger hand nearly engulfed his. "Hey.." she said softly, looking down at the boy's small brown face. "You okay? You know we'll get through this, right?"

He nodded back at her, ever so serious despite his age. "You'll keep me safe.."

"Damn skippy I will, bud. Just stick real close and do what I say. You remember what we do, right? No noise. Be still. Listen first. If you get scared, hide. And you don't trust anyone but me, got it champ?" Ri waited until he nodded to scoop her brother up into a brief tight hug. He was shaking and she hated it. As thin as he was and as much as she worked to fix it, he was still too slim, too hungry, too tired. There was so much making up to do. So much to fix- and everyone had to go and lose their damn marbles when she should be focusing on getting Sal up to snuff and the ship. Until those little dark eyes weren't so sunken and hollow, she couldn't settle down. Had to do better, be better, fight harder.

"And no crying.." he whispered into her shoulder.

"Yeah, no crying. We're too damn tough to cry, alright?" With another light squeeze, she set Sal back on his feet and took his hand again. "If anything gets hairy, you go to my office on P, lock the door and color. Don't open the door for anyone but me. Your markers are in my top drawer on the right.."

Ri's voice trailed off as the turbolift stopped at Deck O and immediately sound rushed in. Someone had rigged the local intercom system in the area to broadcast what sounded like very loud Spanish off-key singing. The tone was familiar, but not quite enough that she could put her finger on who it was.

With Sal's hand in hers, she made her way into main engineering tentatively. There was a light flickering- but more importantly there were about a dozen alarm panels lit up like Christmas trees and the only crewman in the room was rather blithely enjoying a cup of tea while staring at a wall. As quickly as she could, Ri dove into getting those alarms off and fixes in place. Systems were rerouted or simply brought back online. She could feel Sal by her feet as she hurried from panel to panel, just a touch on her shin here or her boot there to let her know that he was there as she worked.

"Hey! Crenshaw.." She called to the woman drinking tea. "CRENSHAW!"

Startled, the woman turned around, her blue eyes wide. "Hmm? No, I don't need another drink, but thank you. Please don't disturb me again. I don't need anything, thank you."

Ri blinked for a moment then narrowed her eyes. "Woman, if you don't get your butt to work minding these panels, you'll need help- that's what you'll need. Get on it!"

"Just who do you think you are? I'll have you fired!" Crenshaw spun around again, her posture shifting remarkably fast from relaxed to stiff and haughty. "You can't talk to your guests like that and expect to run a successful hotel in this town!" When Ri just stared at her for a moment, the woman continued to rage. "Get out of my room!"

Realizing that she'd have to look elsewhere for help, Ri ventured out into the hall with her brother at her side, clutching at the edge of her jacket as she hurried. Alders was on the floor crying, but unharmed and unreachable. Bivern was calculating ridiculous numbers from memory for apparently no reason. Elle Walton was dancing along in ballet or a waltz or something fancy looking with her chin raised high and her feet bare. And there- perched on a catwalk where his voice would carry naturally up and down engineering, singing loudly into a wrench, surrounded by communicators- was Mauricio Escobar. Ri leaned over the railing to yell at him repeatedly, but her voice didn't carry over the sheer amount of noise that he was generating between his voice, all of the feedback and his guitar.

"El amor tiene firma de autor en las causas perdidas. El amor siempre empieza soñando y termina en insomnio.

Suddenly a set of strong arms wrapped around Ri from behind and lifted her up and back from the railing. "Hey, Sara-" the person yelled over the music. "-I'm sorry about yesterday night-"

"Es un acto profundo de fe que huele a mentira. El amor baila al son que le toquen sea Dios o el demonio. Sea Dios o el demonio."

It took everything in Ri to not automatically rear her head forward and bash it into his face. This was her crew- her crew not him. She didn't hurt them unless they did something to deserve it. Twisting a little, she saw that it was Warren Moss holding her and managed to squirm just enough that the kiss he tried to land on the corner of her mouth only hit her cheek. "Put me down Moss!"

"El amor es la guerra perdida entre el sexo y la risa. Es la llave con que abres el grifo del agua en los ojos."

"You aren't gonna let it go, are you? I said I'm sorry, what else do you want?" He let her go, but it wasn't gentle and just like that he was trying to use his height to bully her back towards the wall. "I don't love her, Sare! I had too much to drink- you know how it is.."

"Es el tiempo más lento del mundo cuando va de prisa, El amor se abre paso despacio no importa el cerrojo."

Uncowed, Ri pulled herself up, too. At 5'6" she wasn't a tall woman, but she had enough attitude to make up for the deficit. "My name is Lieutenant Rianna DiMarco, Ensign Moss. You need to pull yourself together so we can get back to working on the ship-"

"El amor es la arrogancia de aferrarse a lo imposible. Es buscar en otra parte lo que no encuentras en ti."

Her response only seemed to confuse Moss and his face showed it. He surged forward and planted one large hand on the wall that was now behind her. "It's my house, too, you stuck up prig! I'm coming home whether you like it or not-"

"El amor es un ingrato que te eleva por un rato y te desploma porque sí. El amor es dos en uno, que al final no son ninguno."

DiMarco heard her brother's strangled cry of warning. That was a clear second to the idea already forming in her head that the conversation had already gone on long enough. She kicked out Moss's left knee, grabbed his hair in both hands and fed his head face first into the wall behind her as hard as she could. He staggered back a step and fell to the ground, clutching his face with a moan when another hand settled on her shoulder.

"Y se acostumbran a mentir. El amor es la belleza.."

"Boss?" Caplan stepped between the two of them: a mass of bruises and shallow cuts. "You okay?"

Que se nutre de tristeza, y al final siempre se va.."

"Yeah!" Ri gathered Sal to her side tightly. "Tell me you've still got all pistons firing?"

"El amor casi siempre es mejor cuando está en otra parte. Luce bien en novelas que venden finales perfectos."

"'Cept for the horse, yes ma'am. I know there sure as hell ain't no horse on ship, but he's there plain as day tryin' to eat the warp core. Been tryin' to ignore him.." Hank's voice trailed off sheepishly. "I'll toss Moss in with the rest of the brawlers. You've got me, Carmine and Sagree still up and around. Give me orders, ma'am."

"No te vayas amor que aunque duelas no quiero dejarte. Si eres siempre un error porque nunca se ven tus defectos."

"Carmine on monitoring. Sagree can handle Mauricio: I need the intercoms clear and used to try and get in touch with anyone else still in their right mind. You keep the peace as best as you can. I'll join Carmine in a minute. Hey, Hank-" Ri squeezed the big man's arm reassuringly. "-there's no horse."

"Puede ser que lo que juzgo sea otra cosa, no lo sé. Que a mi suerte le ha tocado el impostor, tampoco sé."

"Yes'm," the big man said with a grin. As he set about gathering up Moss, Ri picked Sal up and hurried him to her office, not stopping until she was able to crouch down next to her desk. She set the boy down under her desk, then rifled through her desk for his markers and color films. "Stay here, baby. Stay put. I'll be back as soon as I can, but I've got to do this to keep us all safe, okay? No one can get you in here."

Sal clutched the films to his chest, not looking even a tiny bit convinced that he'd be okay without her. "Not even him?"

"Hey: we don't talk about him. He doesn't exist to us. He's not even trash. Not even dirt." Ri caught the boy's chin and tilted it up until he was looking her squarely in the eyes. "You and me, baby: we're okay. We'll always be okay so long as we stick together. I promise- cross my heart and hope to die twice over- that I will be back for you Salvadore DiMarco. No matter what. You're my heart, kiddo. Promise, 'kay?"

A little more confident now, the boy nodded his head, which was all the answer that Ri required. She kissed his forehead then pushed the chair up to the desk flush. Leaving him that way, again, hurt. Again.. though not quite right in some filmy, nonsensical light her mind kept trying to say that he was too large. Too small to leave and she could hear a baby crying, but no- that wasn't right. She just couldn't come to grips sometimes with how much he'd grown. How much she'd grown- because for once, she wasn't looking back at him in fear as she left the room, terrified of what happened if she took her eyes off of him for a moment. This time, she knew with utter confidence that she'd be back because she was strong enough to protect him.

This time.

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Lt. Rianna DiMarco

Lyrics are to El Amor by Ricardo Arjona because Escobar adores love ballads. If I have to write another post with him while he's crazy it'll be Enrique Iglesias. Save us now, folks. Post.

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