Long Islands & Whiskey Sours

Posted on Thu Aug 27th, 2020 @ 9:39pm by Lieutenant Avery Paxton III & Lieutenant Scott Hayes

Mission: Deep Space Nine
Location: DS9
Timeline: MD-01, after "Recheck"

ON:

Why he was standing in the docking ring, he wasn't sure. Their last exchange left him a little unsure of things, but there he stood dressed in dark jeans, a tan polo and matching Chelsea boots. Scott needed to break out of his shell, get out of sickbay and go and meet people that he didn't need to poke and prod for work. He probably wouldn't have gone out by himself, so this was the lesser of all evils. Making a promise to himself, should he not be feeling the situation, he would leave immediately.

Avery picked out her favorite pair of skinny jeans, a navy blue top and a green button up jacket and then laced up some blue low top chucks and headed towards the docking ring. She had no idea if Scott would meet her there or even if he would show up at Quarks later for that matter. He had opened up to her when she was in sickbay, but then she did what she did best and deflected it with humor, which he didn’t seem to appreciate.

As she rounded the corner to the docking ring, she saw Scott and smiled. “Hey! I’m glad you’re here,” she said sincerely, relieved that she hadn’t completely ruined things earlier. “So, Quarks, the holodeck, or something else entirely?”

"I think we are both dressed for Quarks," he said looking them both over, "plus, you can't hang the idea of a hot barman in front of me and not expect me to go and look," he gave a somewhat nervous laugh.

“Fair enough,” she replied.

They left the docking ring and headed towards the bar. It was a little bit awkward at first, new friendships usually are, but it didn’t take too long for the conversation to get going. "So, what do you normally do for fun? Other than the gym and work."

"Oh, work is usually anything but fun, as much as it appears otherwise," Scott laughed, "but right now they are all I get to do, I haven't been able to break out my guitar in weeks. How about you? Assuming you aren't doing engineering work in your sleep that is," he lightly teased.

Her ears perked up as Scott said guitar, “You play guitar? Acoustic, electric or bass? As for me, I do love engineering. I’m a sucker for a good set of schematics and besides the gym that is most of what I’ve spent my time doing. When I was younger I used to get in trouble for playing pranks on people. That’s always been a guilty pleasure of mine.” She said with a small laugh. She was still a little on edge from their earlier conversation and didn’t want to let go too far for fear of putting her foot in her mouth again.

"Acoustic mostly, but I am partial to breaking out an electric one when the mood strikes," Scott confessed, "Now for pranks, I tend to pull them on close friends. Once, in the Academy, my roommate was out showering. You'd think I'd pull the usual and steal their clothes...nope... replaced them all for a size smaller. He waddled back to the room." The doc gave a small chortle.

“Ooo that’s a good one!” She laughed.

They arrived at Quarks a moment later. Avery looked at Scott as they stepped inside the semi-crowded bar. “Why don’t you give me your order and go grab a table. I’ll get the first round ordered at the bar. I figure I owe you at least one, if not a couple.”

"Long Island for me," Scott replied smiling, "I would say first round is on me, but I think I know better when arguing here sometimes," Scott replied with a smile before heading off to find a table. It would be a few moments before he saw people leaving one just at the side of the Dabo table, between it and the bar. Swooping in like a hawk before someone else could take it. It was prime real estate, a good place to be seen and people watch and close enough to the bar where it was only a few steps away.

Avery walked up to the all too familiar bar. She had been to DS9 many times in the past, both during her childhood while stationed on various ships for her fathers deployments and while she was serving on the Midway & the Equinox. To her benefit, Quark’s holodecks and replicators had always tended to be a bit flaky and she helped him repair them more than once while the station's regular engineer was either away or indisposed.

She leaned in on the bar and announced her order, trying to sound inconspicuous, “Whiskey sour and a long island please.”

A smile grew on Avery’s face as Quark looked up to see where the familiar voice was coming from. “Lt.Paxton….welcome back” He said with his typical mischievous grin. “I hope you’re not expecting a discount just because you fixed the holodeck last time you were here.” He said, only half-jokingly.

Avery laughed, “I respect the Ferengi culture too much to ever ask you for a discount.”

“And that’s why I’ve always liked you,” he replied. “A whiskey sour and a long island coming right up. Oh by the way, I have a replicator that’s been acting up lately...”

Avery chuckled, “We’ll talk about repairs later. I’m going to go catch up with a friend for now.” Avery motioned towards the table that Scott had selected. “Have Ehtri bring the drinks by, will you?”

Quark nodded in acknowledgement and Avery walked over to the table that Scott was sitting at. “Drinks should be here in a minute, personally delivered by the hottest bartender that Quarks has to offer,” she stated proudly, hoping that she was starting to make up for her earlier transgressions and that Scott wasn’t regretting his decision to come out.

"This I look forward to then," Scott said, his head peaking up like a little meerkat, "an added bonus to getting off of the ship, or at least out of sickbay. Thankfully the butt grabber doesn't seem to be here." He smiled, his mind now longing for that drink.

The conversation flowed effortlessly for the next few minutes until a very attractive, tall, blonde Bajoran man emerged with their drinks.

“Avery, it’s so good to see you again,” Ehtri said as he approached the table. “I know you must have ordered the whiskey sour, so I assume the long island is for your good looking friend here?” He queried as he set the drink in front of Scott with a smile.

“You know me too well,” Avery replied with a smirk. “Ehtri, this is my friend Scott Hayes. We’re stationed on the Wayfarer together. Scott, meet Ehtri Trelzon,”

Scott couldn't help but blush a little, "Yeah, that would be me for that drink," he smiled a little awkwardly. "And yeah, Ehtri, is it? Nice to meet you," he extended a hand as he half stood up from his seat.

“It’s very nice to meet you,” Ehtri replied as he took Scott’s hand. “If you care to stick around, I’ll be done with my shift in about an hour and I would love to join you two if you don’t mind some extra company.”

“Of course! We’d love for you to join us. You don’t mind, do you Scott?.” Avery replied, barely able to contain the giggle growing inside as Scott & Ehtri interacted, clearly enamored with each other.

"Yeah, that would be good," Scott said, still awkwardly smiling, "I mean if I don't have too many of these and end up passed out in a corner before then," he held up his glass. He would wait until he left before letting out a breath. "Yeah... I'm a dork, I know," Scott confessed, "Its... its just been a while." He shot Avery a glance of 'please don't mock me too badly, I know I suck at this'.

“Uh yea, no, it wasn’t that bad.” Avery responded, desperately trying to hold in her laughter at this point. She figured that he probably felt pretty vulnerable right now and they weren’t at the level yet where she could totally rip into him for being a dork.

She took a breath to refocus. “Seriously though, we all fumble for words when we meet someone that catches our eyes. Besides, I doubt Ehtri noticed anything. He was completely taken with you. He couldn’t take his eyes off of you! So, tell me, was it worth coming to get a drink?”

"Oh no, it was that bad, don't try and make me feel better," Scott said with a smile, "but yeah, it was worth it." He looked over to the bar, in his mind, stealthily, to everyone else though...

"Thanks," he began, "I know I can be a bit stubborn, but, I just take my job seriously, a little too seriously at times. I need to protect people and do what is in their best interests, even if that goes against what they want. So, sorry we got off on the wrong foot. I am sure things would have started this way if you weren't risking your health" he laughed and raised a glass in a mock toast action.

“Are you ever going to forget the one time I overworked myself?!” Avery laughed as she lifted her glass in response.

"Oh, you are never going to live that one down...ever," Scott replied with a smirk.

The next hour flew by. They got to know each other, traded pranking stories from the Academy, and scoped out other hot guys coming in and out of the bar. Before they knew it, Ehtri had returned to their table. He sat down across from Scott, unable to take his eyes from the perfectly sculpted Starfleet officer in front of him.

Scott smiled and welcomed the barman back to the table with slightly less awkwardness.

Seeing that she would quickly become the third wheel, Avery got up. "I believe I'm going to have to call it night. I have some engineering upgrades to review and my shift starts early in the morning so I'd better head back. You two should stay and have some drinks together though, I know you both have a lot in common." She said with a grin.

Avery turned and looked at Ehtri, "It was really good to see you again, we'll have to catch up next time I'm at the station." Then she glanced at Scott with a 'you'd better give me all the details later' look and wished them both goodnight.


:OFF:

Lieutenant Scott Hayes
Chief Medical Officer
USS Wayfarer

&

Lieutenant Avery Paxton III
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Wayfarer