No way out, Part 2
Posted on Sun Nov 19th, 2023 @ 11:38pm by Ensign Zoya Solwick & Ensign Ronan Elsher
3,282 words; about a 16 minute read
Mission:
Mission 5: The Price of Paradise
Location: Betazed
Timeline: M5 MD01 (2268.07.13) 1700
Zoya I left a beach in a short time had passed he was now back on her parents' home property on Betazed. She did not come alone, the one person they wanted her to bring she had brought which slightly infuriated her, but she wasn't really mad at him she was mad at them. That's what she kept telling herself as they both walked through the door.
Ronan knew this wasn’t what Zoya wanted but they would have to make the best of it. He looked around at the house and thought it must have been a great place to grow up. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad for them. They were going to try and give this a shot after all so might as well start as they mean to go on.
"Prefer to speak verbally if that's okay with you." Zoya asked as she looked over to Ronan.
"That is fine with me." Ronan said with a smile. "This is really nice. Makes a person feel comfortable."
"I have a feeling our parents won't be as open to the idea." Zoya suggested, she started to look around for Suki. She left their daughter in the care of her parents.
“I think you are more than likely right.” Ronan agreed. “We just need to stick together.
"The two outcasts are sticking together huh?" Zoya said with a smirk on her face.
“We did explore the alternatives.” Ronan grinned. He would have never thought they would get along for even a little while.
"is that what you want to call it?" Zoya said with a big smirk on her face.
“What would you call it?” Ronan said with interest. He couldn’t wait to hear her reply.
Zoya just chuckled out loud, with a big smile on her face she didn't say anything. She wanted to make it clear tonight he was just teasing, plus she also had the right not to say anything at all. She knows it would be more dramatic that way.
It took a few seconds and he realized she wasn’t going to answer his question. He thought that she had the played well. “How far are our parents behind us?”
"I think they're outside, this way." Zoya said as she walked through the Fourier and started heading towards a long haul away, she was making her way to the backyard. The house is awfully quiet which is a little strange. She continued to proceed to the backyard.
As she predicted there was a lot of commotion going on in the backyard and she could see little Suki playing near the pool.
Ronan followed her out into the yard where he saw his parents, sitting and talking to Zoya’s. “This cannot be good. They are all smiling at us like they have a plan.”
"Why wouldn't they were the one loving having family." Mockingly said Zoya and she gave a forced fake smile.
“My mother has that look that she gets when she knows she has us right where she wants us.” Ronan smiled. “I love my parents but sometimes…”
"Sometimes you just want to run, I know that feeling oh too well." Zoya said as she looked to Ronan and then back at Suki.
“Oh believe me I have thought of that a time or two.” Ronan admitted. “But what is the point, what you run from will just be waiting for you when you get back.”
"People are just Trying to delay the inevitable." Zoya said and she saw her mom approaching her direction.
“That is true.” Ronan looked over at Zoya. “So are we going to face the music or avoid them and go play with our daughter?”
"Is running still an option?" Zoya said in a playful teasing manner, the idea of playing with your daughter sounded more appealing than hanging out with her family.
“It’s always there.” Ronan said with a laugh. “Right now I just want to spend time with you and our little one.”
"Pump on the brakes turbo, if you don't you might crash into the wall." Zoya said to him.
“I’m taking things one day at a time.” Ronan replied. “Just like we said.”
"Well, I appreciate the sentiment last not jump the gun here." Zoya said trying to be realistic with him.
“I won’t do that.” Roman said seriously. “If we are going to give this a shot then we need to do it right.”
"Then baby steps okay." Zoya said with the warm-hearted and sincere look on her face.
“Yes.” Ronan nodded. “That will be the best way to do this.”
"So, who's going to go first and say hi to their mother?" Zoya as expecting her to be her most betazoid men were beta type personalities.
“I can.” Ronan sighed. “I would rather get it over with.” He headed to where she stood. “Hello, Mother.”
Marial pedigree on her face if she looked over to her darling son. He was a good boy, now becoming in a man unlike his bride to be he knew how to follow orders and play along. "little one, I see that you brought her in."<\em>
”We have made no decisions, mother.”<\em> Ronan warned her not wanting her to make assumptions. ”We are talking though.”<\em> He loved his mother and didn’t want to disappoint her.
"I prefer to use our words!" Zoya said, looking over to Marial and Ronan.
His mother did not look very pleased with her outburst. For the moment though she decided to me silent.
“Zoya is right.” Ronan agreed with her. “It is better this way.” He should have thought about it before he replied. “My apologies, Zoya.”
"I believe you have been hanging out with the humans for too long." Marial said with a disappointed voice, telepathy offered more type of communication. A better form of understanding one another.
“It is better for us this way.” Ronan explained. “We only use our abilities when we are alone, otherwise it is rude.”
"Have you even considered that I might be rude to do that to a fellow paid his head you'll understand your customs and cultures." Marial better with a slight annoyed to look on her face, but deep down during the fact that she's proud of her little boy for standing up for his future wife.
“I looked at it from all angles.” Ronan replied. “This is best and as long as Zoya prefers it this way I will respect her.”
Zoya just grinned, she loved the fact that he is backing her to play on this interaction with his mother.
Marial, and manipulated situation, trying to make him look good so she would come around if it is always a very good at manipulating people to do with the may or may not want to do. "I will concede to your point, this time." She simply said what's a smile on her face.
Ronan’s eyes narrowed, getting the feeling that his mother was up to something, he just didn’t know what. “Thank you, mother.”
"Now are you going to be rude or are you going to go there and talk to your father and introduce him again to your lovely bride." Marial asked.
"Isn't that a little presumptuous of you?" Zoya ask her, knowing deep down that what she said was true.
Marial was about to respond when she noticed her son was going to say so, so curiously she decided to wait to see how he responded.
“It is customary to introduce her to you first, Mother.” Ronan reminded her. “Zoya and I will approach him when we are ready.”
"Approach what a bench a court of law?" Marial classic catholically wondering what the hell he was talking about now they went from the topic of them getting married to him talking about approaching things but what was he trying to approach.
“Approach my father.” Ronan said, feeling irritated. “You know what I meant; you asked the question.” He was about to excuse them and go meet Zoya’s parents.
"You see what you're doing? Don't you?" Marial asked her son and just bypassing the fact that Zoya was right there.
“We are doing.” Roman corrected her. “Zoya is right here, and it is our decision to make who we speak to first, not yours, mother.”
He was clueless, and that made her smile, what she was really making him do was defend his wife like a good beta husband would.
"He is right, right now we're choosing to speak to you." Zoya said to his mom. She was backing him up. This was their moment not his mom's.
“And what we do from here is between us.” Ronan looked to Zoya. “Shall we check on our daughter?”
"It's like you're reading my mind." Zoya said with a teasing voice, she was in agreement with him.
“Let’s go.” Ronan suggested. He was really tired of speaking with his mother.
"I have to say this take-charge type of personality is really becoming of you." Zoya hinted to him, but she only liked it when he was standing up for her in front of his family, it still remained to be seen if she like did in general.
”I wasn’t going to let her treat you like that.” Ronan replied. He felt that this first meeting was important to set the boundaries.
"It is." Zoya sit out loud as I started to head closer to her daughter and away from his mother.
He walked beside her as they headed over to their daughter. “I bet you my father will come to us.”
"I think you're misjudging how blunt and influential my mother can be." Zoya said to him as she noticed her mom was closer than her father.
"My mother's dearest my beloved Ronan, was just telling me how excited he was to be chatting with you." Zoya said with a twisted grin on her face.
Kayla Solwick wondered what game her daughter was playing. For the moment though she's being cordial, so she decided to play along. "Is that right Ronan."
“Ah yes.” Ronan replied, smiling at her. “I am happy to see you.” Zoya’s mother was a little intimidating.
"Really, then why do you seem nervous?" Kayla asked, she had a twisted smile on her face she sense that he was nervous. And rightfully so his soon-to-be bride kind of threw him to the wolves.
"I believe it is more frustrated." Ronan said honestly. "He knew Kayla preferred the truth.
"I'll have to have a conversation with my daughter she shouldn't be frustrating her new fiancé." Kayla that and then taking the teasing to another level. "A frustrated fiancé is not a good thing because then I have to wait even longer to get my grandchildren." She said that she looked directly to Zoya.
Zoya did not respond to the comment. She knows what she was trying to do, and she wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.
“Your daughter has not frustrated me.” Ronan explained. “It is the lack of confidence that we can handle our lives is.”
"if that's the case then why aren't you married him, I don't have grandchildren? You said you can figure this out and it's our lack of confidence when it's realistically your guy's inability to commit and had a child out of wedlock which we do appreciate our grandchild. However, with that said we're not the one who's playing the games here we're the ones with the realistic expectations you too need to figure this out." Kayla in a calm and collected tone not raising her voice. If he was not going to mince words, she wasn't going to mince words.
“It has to be on our terms.” Ronan replied. “You raised Zoya to be the confident woman she is. Trust her to know what is best and that the two of us will make this work. We just need to do it our way.
"You said comfort woman I say a rebellious woman. And as much as you hate to admit it you know I'm right, you two should have been married during your academy days." Kayla pointed out too, still maintaining a calm and collected tone. He should know by now that he wasn't going to win this argument not when she had the truth on her side.
Zoya took great offense at her mom's comment. But the sad truth is her mom was right, and any think he said to counter that would only prove her mother's point. But he was also right she would get married when she was ready to, she felt the bond, but she wanted it for the right reasons and not just because of cultural reasons.
“We want time to get to know one another.” Ronan explained. “Before we marry. We will be serving together.”
"It's Betazed tradition to be married first and then get to know each other what makes you too so special that year above tradition?" Kayla asked him, putting the spot on him. She was going to get him to see that his alien influences from Starfleet or clouding his cultural beliefs. He seriously questioned if he was even Betazed in her own mind.
“I wouldn’t say special as much as this is our choice.” Ronan returned. “We want it this way.” He wondered when Zoya was going to say something.
"Mom, I think you had your fun. You know I love you, but you need ease up." Zoya family said that she got slightly annoyed at her mom.
Kayla wasn't used, and she had a twisted grin on her face. "Well, there's some progress, you're finally defending somebody."
"He doesn't deserve to be treated like this, he's just repeating what I've been telling you for years." Zoya pointed out to her mother.
"And for years I told you stop being selfish but yet you continue to do so just to fire me telling it to buy our cultural beliefs." Kayla said, she was just as annoyed as her daughter was.
"It should be my decision when to get married, it doesn't mean that I don't respect or trust Betazed customs. I'm not blind to the fact that there is a bond between us and I can feel it growing inside of each of us, we actually did share a nice moment at the beach even though you never asked, well we both banished for a while." Zoya said that she took offense to what her mom's been telling her.
Kayla grinned, "you don't think I was aware of the fact that you guys are at the beach trying to have a moment. Why would I stop you from talking to each other that's what I want, I want you to stop being so blindsided but he your need to be rebellious and accept your partner. Even though he's too afraid to tell you, it's hurtful to him. Don't even get me started with that whole disaster of a relationship that led to the birth of our beautiful granddaughter, by now you should have at least two kids and not just the one and you should already be married." Kayla said as started to lay into her daughter.
"Will get married when it's time, you did give me a year after all. Unless you're not a woman of your word." Zoya said with the smile on her face, twisting back her mom's own words against her and basically calling her out.
Ronan listened to Zoya speak and he was proud of what she said. Her mother was manipulating them, and it was irritating. He wondered how long they had spied on them at the beach.
"What are you over there smirking about Ronan?" Kayla as if she could feel the smirkiness radiating off of him.
"I am not smirking." Ronan returned. "I am feeling proud of Zoya." He didn't care if she liked it, he was being honest.
"Why is that?" Didn't she just leave you out to dry a few minutes ago and probably as a matter of fact right now letting me talk down to you?
So, you're debated about saying something but for the moment she kept her mouth quiet, he would need to learn how to defend himself against her mother at some point.
“No.” Ronan shook his head. “She trusts me and respects me to speak for myself.” He kept his eyes on Zoya’s mother. “Though I appreciate it if she comes to my defense, she knows she doesn’t have to.”
"All I can see is that you're being melodramatic and overstepping your place." Kayla said, decided to shut him up.
"Mother this is your idea; you don't make them really drummer day he provides and maybe you should have found me a better partner. I don't mind his no drama." Zoya said realizing what she said was a little insensitive.
"He needs to learn his place what makes him more unique than the other males. Without us being the breadwinners, they would wither away." 'Kayla said being harsh with him.
"What's wrong with the partner that expresses their feelings, not everybody can have a relationship like you and father. " Zoya said doing that her father rarely spoke out against his wife he had on a couple of occasions but only in defense of the children. If they ever disagree or had conversation it was never in front of them.
"I love your father very much; he knows his place. We are the alphas of our society. Our men are beta's. As long as they act like betas they always will be." Kayla said to Zoya.
Encouraging him to whine and bicker and be argumentative with her, only upset Kayla. He needed to learn his place.
Ronan took a deep breath. He almost walked away but he felt like Kayla was picking a fight. She was purposely pushing so she could have her own way. He looked to Zoya. “This isn’t good for Suki, perhaps we should take her to the park or something.”
"She is with your parents at the moment." Kayla said, as she pointed to Suki and his parents. They were over in the corner having fun playing, they were even paying attention to the conversation. Mr drama was going to have to do better than that.
Ronan didn’t say a word. He was done speaking to Zoya’s mother. She is bent on picking a fight and he wasn’t going to answer her. Zoya could deal with her, he was done.
Kayla looked over to Zoya she had a grand on her face and she telepathically said to her daughter. "He is finally learning; you have a lot to teach him my little one. Trust me nip the drama now before it becomes an issue later." Kayla said knowing that today may not make sense to her daughter today. She knew someday it would.
Zoya was less than amused with her mother's response. "Mother, that is rude. Your quarrel is with me stop taking it on him. "<\em>
Kayla just grinned as the scene starts to fade away. She had got the last comment in. She walked away so the little emo boy would cry to his future wife.
Ronan stood and watched her walk away. All he could hope for was as little contact with her as possible.
OCC: I use the same dates since I am not sure what the dates will be for mission 5
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