"Fulian Homebrewed Coffee"

Stardate 9904.18

Jen/T'Mar

Jen sat at the console in T'Mar's quarters, in a lightweight teal cotton short sleeved dress, hair tied up in a pony tail, working on the information from the void.

T'Mar worked in the kitchen of his quarters. ~~How did she say that she liked it?~~ He pondered, trying to determine just how many beans it would take to make it right.

Jen smiled, catching a slight drift of T'Mar's thoughts ~~He's been so nice lately!~

The past few days had changed his view of this woman Jennifer Lee. She was such a diligent worker, despite the conditions that she was put under. T'Mar had looked less and less at her as someone to train to his ways and more as a woman and mate that he should respect her ways as well.

She found a particularly difficult stretch of data, and she leaned in toward the console, her muscles starting to bunch up with tension as she worked out this particular problem. She curled her feet up underneath her on the chair, trying to get a little more comfortable while working.

T'Mar carried the steaming mug out to Jennifer. He cocked his head to the side and watched her lean in as he neared her. ~~She truly is beautiful.~~ His eyes traveled down the side of her face and down her neck.

Seeing T'Mar coming towards her, she turned to look at him. Smelling deeply of the aroma wafting her way, "Mmmm ... is that coffee I smell?" She smiled gratefully up at him as he drew near.

"I hope it is." T'Mar offered her the mug. "It's the best that I could do right now." He watched her, hoping that he did it right.

She took the mug from him, her fingers lingering on the soft fur on the backs of his hands a little longer than protocol demanded. She took a deep smell of the liquid, then took a small sip. "If this isn't coffee, I don't know what is! Thank you so much!" She placed the mug next to her workstation, tried to rub the kink out of her neck without touching the collar, and looked back to the data. She didn't want T'Mar upset at her for not working.

"You're welcome." T'Mar felt a slight tremor travel from his hand and down his spine at the brief contact. What was stopping him from kissing her and making her his mate, as he had first desired? It wasn't that he did not find her attractive. Was it that he wanted her to approve? "Making any progress?" He leaned over her shoulder to look at the screen.

She leaned back slightly into his warm bulk, and let out a sigh. "Yes, and no. I've hit a snag here ... this portion is really confusing to me. I'm doing the best I can though to get this done for you."

T'Mar closed his eyes as the warmth of Jen's body molded to his. "Perhaps you need a break for a while. Stepping away from a problem sometimes helps me to come back to it later refreshed." He gently laid his paw like hands on her shoulders. "E'Gret will just have to wait for his answers."

She looked back at him, slight astonishment in her eyes. "Are you sure? I'm so afraid he's going to send another jolt through this collar because I haven't done the amount of work he thinks I should have." ~~He's got nice hands, I wish he'd use them!~~

"Well, I've worked some things out with that." T'Mar absentmindedly began to massage Jen's shoulders. "He's given me sole control over the collar. So he won't be jolting you in your sleep again my dear." His finger like appendages kneaded her muscles.

Jen relaxed at his touch. "Mmm that feels good. How'd you manage that one? I think he just jolted me for the fun of it." Her shoulders slumped, and her hands fell into her lap.

"I told him that it seemed to interrupt your concentration and you weren't able to come up with answers for another hour or so again, and that I knew better when to give you that extra boost. He believed me and released his control."

"Well, for that, I thank you very much."

T'Mar looked down at Jen, not telling her that he had deactivated her collar so that no matter what E'Gret did she couldn't be jolted.

After the first night, Jen hadn't tried touching her collar again, the jolts getting worse and worse the more she touched it. "T'Mar? I have a question for you. I've kind of gotten used to it here, but still miss my family and friends. Has there, by any chance, been any sign of the Federation?"

T'Mar sighed. No matter how he tried to make her comfortable, he knew that she would ask him about her old ship again. "Not yet. I doubt that they even know where to look for us. Our technology leaves a barely traceable trail once we mask."

Sighing in defeat, Jen's mood turned more somber. Tears filled her eyes. "OK. I had hoped to see them again, is all. I hope someone is taking care of my cat for me, too." ~~Darn, I miss Ophelia!~~

"I am sure that people are there to take care of her. I find it hard to believe that they could not care about you there too." T'Mar continued to massage Jen's neck and shoulders. ~~I have to do something to cheer her up.~~

Nodding, she turned back toward the console, but saw her coffee. She picked up the mug, and said, "Yes, I know. I have some very good friends there. I miss them a lot." She took another sip. "This coffee is really, very good you know."

"Thank you." T'Mar pondered what he could to for Jen. "I could send a message to them for you. Of course it would have to scramble our location, but you could let them know that you are all right."

She quickly stood up and turned to him. "You think so? Could we really? I'd feel much better letting them know I'm OK, and knowing someone's looking after Ophelia for me! Do you think we could take a walk or something? I've lost my ability to concentrate right now. A walk might help."

"Sure." T'Mar stepped back and pulled the chair back for Jen. He offered her his arm. "Where would you like to head?"

She took his proffered arm, and said, with a new life in her eyes and voice, "Anywhere ... we could roam the hallways if you want. Though ... right now, I'd love to run barefoot in a meadow ... do you have anything like a holodeck here?"

T'Mar nodded and headed for the door. "Yes, we do. I can't believe that I never thought of that."

With a twinkle in her eye, and a bounce in her step, she went with T'Mar out the door.

T'Mar smiled and headed for one of the lifts with Jen in tow on his arm. "I can't believe that I didn't think of that earlier." He waited for the lift to reach its destination.

She smiled up at him, "Well, I'm glad I asked. Isn't it amazing how so many different cultures end up with close to the same technology?"

"Yes, it is. Everyone needs a chance to relax somewhere." T'Mar smiled down at Jen, his figure a good bit taller than her. He exited when the doors opened, and strode down the hall.

Nodding, "And it's nice when you can do so, and forget that you are on a ship far from home, sometimes." Jen quickened her pace to keep up with T'Mar.

T'Mar stopped at the entrance to the holodeck and entered a few keycodes. He thought for a minute before he finished his entries and opened the doors. "You first m'Lady. I hope that you like it."

Looking up at his handsome profile as he worked, "So, do you have someplace special in mind?" Smiling, "I'm sure I will." She dropped his arm, and entered the holodeck. She stopped dead, a few feet in. In front of her was a large meadow, with fresh dew on the blue grass, some wildflowers sprinkled throughout. She turned to T'Mar, "This is beautiful! Is it a real place?"

T'Mar nodded. "This is home. A place that I used to play as a young one." He turned to the panel and locked the doors behind them.

Toeing off her shoes, she turned to T'Mar, "Race to you that big tree over there!" And she took off on a fast sprint across the field, barefoot, the hem of her dress getting wet from the dew.

T'Mar laughed and ran after her, staying just behind her until the end when he raced in front of Jen, and caught her as they hit the tree.

She giggled and leaned on T'Mar for support. Smiling up at him, out of breath, she said, "That was fun!"

T'Mar looked down at Jen, slightly out of breath from the run and the sight of her beauty. He fingered the collar around her neck.

Pulling her breath in sharply, "T'Mar! Don't! You'll get shocked as well as I will!"

Slowly he reached underneath her hair to the clasp in the back. He tenderly looked down at Jen. "It so distracts from your natural beauty Jen."

Feeling a flush come to her face, she looked into his eyes quizzically. "Well, thank you ... but ... don't I have to wear it?"

"I don't want you to have to wear it." T'Mar frowned. He knew that he didn't want the collar to be the only reason why she stayed with him either. "Will you promise not to leave this holodeck if I remove it?"

Looking up at him, she nodded. "Of course I won't leave. I don't have anywhere I can go ... and it's much better with you than with your commanding officer, that's for sure."

T'Mar pressed against the back of the collar and released the locking mechanism, then slowly slid it off of Jen's neck. "I'm the lesser of two evils you mean." He frowned.

Shaking her head, and rubbing her neck where the collar had been, she replied, "Yes and no. Think about where I am, and how I got here. T'Mar, you kidnapped me. I'm trying to be good, and accept my situation. I've learned to care for you, too. But, this isn't home. You forced me from my home." She wiped a tear from her eye.

"We needed you to decrypt the information and figure it out." T'Mar reached up and wiped the tear from her eye. "My captain ordered me to get you, so I did. I wish that we hadn't had to kidnap you, but I can't say that I wish you weren't here."

Frowning, she looked up at him, warring emotions running through her body. One half of her was indignant at the place she was, the other half was enjoying T'Mar's company. "Why couldn't your own Science people do it? Why me?"

"You could decipher your ship's readings. Although we are technologically advanced, we haven't been able to totally decipher your sensor readings." T'Mar softly squeezed Jen's shoulders. "We watched your ship for weeks before we decided that you were the one we needed."

"So instead, you resort to kidnapping, huh? For weeks? Why didn't we see you?" She was feeling odd, having known that they had been watched. And her, in particular.

"As I said before we are basically untraceable when we are masked. We shadowed your vessel."

A shiver ran through her, knowing she'd been spied on. "What is going to happen in the future here, T'Mar?"

T'Mar felt the shiver and pulled Jen instinctively close to him to comfort her.

She leaned her head on his shoulder, her arms encircling his waist.

"Hopefully you will be able to decipher the data, and then E'Gret will not have any more say over you. Because you will be under my care, as my ... "

She barely lifted her head from his shoulder, "Your what?"

T'Mar felt the warmth in his cheeks as he looked at Jen. "In my culture you will be looked at as my mate, as I have claimed you first. So no one will touch you as you are looked at as mine." He caressed her back with his hands. "And we are quite territorial so no one will cross me on it."

Again, warring emotions ran through Jen. She didn't like the thought of having no say about the situation, yet, she'd grown quite fond of T'Mar. To be under his protection for the rest of her life wouldn't be all that bad. In this society, it could be much worse. She tightened her hold on T'Mar, asking, "No one? I would just be ... yours?"

T'Mar nodded. "Just mine." He didn't want to force himself on her, but his entire being wanted to be closer to Jen. "Of course that is how everyone else will look at things. I will not force myself on you Jen, but I will protect you."

Relaxing her hold on him a little, she said, "I know you won't. I can sense that you are a good person, inside. What you've done that I don't like, was under orders. I understand orders. I am grateful that you respect what I want, as well."

T'Mar breathed a sigh of relief. "I am glad that you don't hate me for it Jen. I couldn't live with myself if you hated me." He drew her close to him again. "I hope that in time you will grow fonder of me, as much as I am of you."

Tightening her arms once again around T'Mar, and resting her head again, on his shoulder, she said, "I don't hate you T'Mar. In time, I might even come to ... love you. I'm still adjusting to my new ... home."

T'Mar couldn't believe his ears. Did Jen say what he just thought she said? "I will do everything that I can to make this home for you Jen."

A tear slid down her cheek, she missed her friends, and her family terribly. But, she also knew that the Fulian cloaking technology must be great, if they tailed the Federation for weeks, and weren't detected. Jen started realizing that she would never reach home. Wiping the tear away, she stepped back, and looked up to T'Mar. "Well, let's get back so I can finish that data. I don't want to be indebted to E'Gret for anything."

"Alight." T'Mar reached for the collar but left it in his pocket, pulling Jen's hair forward to cover her neck more. "No one will notice. Let's go."

Looking up at him with relief, "OK." Wiping the rest of the tears from her eyes, she picked up her shoes on the way to the door.

T'Mar followed Jen and contemplated how he was going to get that message to Jen's friends.

At the doorway, she slipped on her shoes. She looked up at T'Mar, "Can we make just a quick note for my friends? Any mode you want."

T'Mar nodded. "We'll get a message to them."

Nodding, "OK ... back to the grind, then."

T'Mar nodded again and shut down the holodeck, the doors closed on the darkness.