Chapter Text
Patience and empathy. Patience and empathy. Words she found herself repeating weekly, daily, sometimes hourly when it came to the cadets, both hers and his. It was hard coming back to teach teenagers to become the best and brightest that the new and improved Starfleet Academy was to become. On top of that, trying to integrate the War College students who treat every problem as a nail and they themselves as a hammer, to cohabitate and work with her group of chaotic problem solvers…patience and empathy.
Zeeren Kelrec, Chancellor, War College. Nahla’s mind wandered to the man who wore the uniform. He had yielded on the quad in front of all her cadets. Nahla was surprised with the grace the surrender had been provided. She had plotted with patience to teach her cadets how to think about how to get back at his and expected retaliation on his part, but he had just…yielded. It had been weeks with nothing, perhaps it was just the oversight committee’s visit that had cemented her win or perhaps he was playing the long game, but she would need to consider this action before moving forward.
Zeeren Kelrec was frustrated at his loss to Chancellor Nahla Ake. While he could not condone or praise his students’ actions outright; their practical tactical application of their learned skills and unit cohesion was masterful. He could not deny Starfleet Academy’s Cadets the win with the Oversight’s committee at the door, all he could do was to yield to ensure the War College was not closed prematurely. The students would need to work harder to best Starfleet. Train harder, be better. He sent a message; all students would be up at dawn to run with him to learn to be better for as long as necessary.
Nahla Ake was up early or really late depending how you looked at it, after another Mir and Company incident and watched Kelrec run with his cadets and admired his form. His strong calves, his tight ass, his well-defined back. She fanned herself as she imagined him pressing her up against the bulkhead. She needed to stop this line of thought. That would never happen. They couldn’t even get along long enough to get through a meeting with Admiral Vance, how could she expect to get physical with the man if they couldn’t even be polite at a mandatory meeting. She had thought after the resolution of the prank war, things would get better. Sure, they presented a united front to the students, but outside of that it was like the frigid north.
She had tried to reach out with the Kometa Fish, but he had thought she was making fun at his expense. She had tea sent from her various contacts, but he had not acknowledged the peace offerings. She had even started wearing shoes when in his presence with no comment other than a “Finally you listen to reason.” She had begun to withdraw her casual touches from her interactions with him in such a way that as yet no one had commented but she was sure Charlie or the Doctor would soon notice. Neither fully understood her need to have a touchstone to ground her, but knew that without one depression could sink in.
Zeeren Kelrec could feel Nahla Ake watching him but did not understand why. He had yielded to her and yet she still she would not let his humiliation go. The damned dinner…he rubbed the crease in his forehead. He needed to find a way to apologize, he had thought she was making fun at his expense, but she was legitimately trying to help, but how was he to know. It was simply too absurd. But he had missed his chance, and then the tea started to arrive. From Betazed, and Bajor, and other distant planets he had not been able to visit due to the Burn. He knew they were from her, the infernal woman kept getting into his quarters, his locker, his office, she even got Admiral Vance to deliver a package as if that were not humiliating enough. Vance wanted him to explain why as the victor she was providing gifts, but how did he explain when he was in the wrong, he did not know. Now the shoes. Oh no, they couldn’t be the standard issue shoes could they. No, she wore boots and heels that highlighted her petite form, making it more obvious their height difference when he thought about her barefoot. He was stunned stupid and all he could utter was something about seeing reason.
Lately he had noticed that she had started to reduce how often she touched him. At first, he was pleased. It had annoyed him how often she touched him without permission and got into her personal space. But he had become used to how close she sat, how often she touched, how nicely she smelled, how she lightened his mood without trying. Lightened his mood? Where had that come from? They argued all the time, but the more he thought about it, the more it became clear that these meetings were the highlight of his days and her retreat was concerning. He rubbed his head. He would need to talk to someone; the question was who.
Charles Vance was getting annoyed at his two chancellors. They were acting like the children they oversaw. Arguments over shared spaces, shared assignments, shared resources. He realized it was not ideal, but he needed them to work together to figure out how the two institutions could work together. Lately he had noticed Nahla withdrawing from the arguments. She was still lively and advocating for her cadets and she still interacted with her kids but in these meetings, she was quieter, something wasn’t quite right. As he watched he noticed that she sat upright, not sprawled in the single chair or in Kelrec’s space. She didn’t touch him; she didn’t linger to talk to him or try to cajole him into fun. He resolved to talk to her after the meeting, but she slipped out with the excuse of a cadet meeting…probably Mir again. He would have to have a heart to heart with Kelrec.
“Kelrec, Zeeren, stay for a minute.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“Zeeren, this is not an Admiral situation. I am concerned about Chancellor Ake. She has not been acting the same in these meetings recently. What have you done?”
“Me, Sir, I have done nothing.” And then it slipped out “I wish I had. I miss her.”
“I believe that may be part of the problem. It has not yet affected her performance elsewhere, but you need to fix this. Go and talk to her. Apologize. Do whatever you need to do to fix it.”
“But Sir”
“Just go”
It was the best he could do without directly acknowledging the situation and no real performance problems. Hopefully Zeeren Kelrec could manage to talk to Nahla Ake long enough to resolve the issue without it devolving into a fight.
Zeeren checked Nahla’s calendar and was surprised to see her cadet meeting wasn’t actually a lie but was thankfully not exceptionally long. He blocked off the rest of the afternoon for both of them marked – Interfleet Institute Collaboration Meeting – to ensure they would not be interrupted and sat outside the Starfleet Chancellor’s office to wait.
As he waited, he contemplated what he should say, how to approach the situation. Cadet Mir left the office, and taking a page from Nahla Ake’s book, he caught the door and walked in without announcing himself. He was surprised to see her staring out the window with a drawn expression on her face. As the door closed, he cleared his throat and Nahla jumped and quickly hid her expression behind a smile, but he had seen behind the mask.
“Chancellor Kelrec, what can I do for you” Nahla asked.
“I wanted to apologize.” Zeeren started “I have not been behaving in the manor befitting my station.”
“I accept your apology” Nahla replied in a clipped tone.
Zeeren was taken aback not expecting the upset that shown through. He tried again to better explain how every time he had tried to apologize it was a troubled time or too late, but it did not seem to help. Nahla again accepted his apology, but he could see this did not soften her resolve. He decided to make a last-ditch attempt and knelt in front of her. He reached out for her hand but did not take it.
Nahla was hesitant to reach back. She had begun pulling in her boundaries to ready herself to try and find another companion before she was too hurt, but as Zeeren reached out she took one more chance.
Nahla had put her hand in his, she was reaching out. He had a chance. Zeeren paused and looked at her before beginning his apology again. “Nahla, I want to apologize for not acknowledging the effort you put into the Komata Fish dinner and all the tea varieties, I know they must have taken awhile for you to source. I also want you to know that there is no shoe waiting to fall after the prank war that you and your cadets so skillfully won.”
Zeeren had started stroking his thumb up and down her hand as he spoke. “I love your shoes and appreciate the changes you made aboard ship to comply with my neuroses, and while I complain about your lack of footwear, I appreciate you without shoes as well.”
Zeeren knelt up and moved into her personal space and hoped he was not out of line. He put her hand on his face and leaned his forehead against hers. “Nahla, you are driving me crazy, but days where I have meetings with you are the highlight of my week. I have become addicted to your touch, and I am sorry that I was not properly appreciative and caused you to withdraw. Please tell me what I must do to allow me back into your good graces.”
Nahla had shivered as Zeeren started touching her, the simple touch helping her feel more connected than she had in days. And then his warm hand took hers and place it on his face and he … he brought them together. The sheer closeness almost made her miss his words. What did he have to do? She was silent for a long time as she thought about how to put it into words.
“Kelrec, Zeeren, I forgive you. I did not mean to put you in this position. You do not need to do anything. You can leave if you want.” She attempted to pull away.
Zeeren could see how reluctant she was to move away from him. “Nahla, I do not want to leave.” And he took a chance and kissed her. When she did not immediately reciprocate, he thought that he had made a mistake and began to back away when Nahla began to respond. He pulled her to her feet and into his arms, not breaking the kiss.
Zeeren ran his fingers through her hair causing Nahla to shiver. Each kiss and caress rapidly deepening and intensifying as Nahla began to slide her hands under his uniform trying to touch his skin.
When Zeeren felt her cold fingers touch his stomach he pulled away startling Nahla. “It’s alright” he said as he caressed her hair. “As comfortable as your office is, did you want to move to one of our quarters?”
Nahla looked at him cautiously and asked carefully “Are you going to stay the night? This is not something I take lightly, and if you come with me, well I have…expectations.”
“I do not object to staying the night, but I am concerned with the way you say expectations Nahla.”
“While I have experimented, I have found I like to give up control in bed after being in charge all the time for so long; but it is hard unless I know I can trust my partner to truly take care of me. I like to be touched often and held tightly when in the privacy of my quarters and that can be hard when it contradicts my place and yours outside my quarters. Is that something you can handle?”
“Nahla, we are going to have to have a long conversation about what we both want specifically, but generally, that I can do. Tonight, can just be me holding you before we take the next step.”
“Can we still kiss?”
“Yes, lets go to your quarters.”