Fruit and Puzzles

Posted on Wed Apr 6th, 2022 @ 6:28am by Petty Officer 2nd Class Henry Washington & Ensign Charlotte (Charlie) Washington

Mission: Character Development
Location: Washington Quarters
1386 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Only three boxes left, Charlie knelt down as a sigh escaped her exhausted body. Why was packing and unpacking so tiring? She wondered, opening yet another box only to reveal another slew of puzzles.

"Henry, sweetheart. This is the seventh box of puzzles. Surely we can get rid of some of these?" She pleaded with her husband who owned so many puzzles that sometimes Charlie felt as though their quarters were more like a museum than a home. On more than one occasion she had threatened to put a sign outside their door stating an entry fee for the 'Museum of Bewildering Antiquities'.

"Wait, wait, wait," Henry said as he rushed over to take the box from Charlie before she could follow through on her threat. "These are delicate," he proclaimed as he pulled the box from her arms, "my collection of Andorian fu'Tek puzzles. Some of these are exact replicas of the original ones they used hundreds of years ago. They're pretty much priceless, I couldn't part with these any more than I could part with you," he added giving his wife a smile in the hope she wouldn't push the issue.

"Oh? I had no idea you held me in such high esteem. To rank me amongst the puzzles which you hold so dear," Charlie laughed and planted a peck on the adorably nerdy husband of hers. His puzzles did take up a lot of space, but the way he fawned over them was somewhat endearing. "Ok, how about instead of getting rid of them we just don't collect anymore? Or if you find one you absolutely must have then you trade it for one of the older ones?" She suggested, gently pushing him to at least agree not to add to the clutter while she helped to place the remaining perplexing devices on a nearby shelf.

"I..." Henry started and then paused. He seemed to be having a moral dilemma and was unsure how best to answer his wife. He was torn between making a promise he had no intention of keeping, and keeping the woman he loved happy. "I... can try," he eventually said, knowing that this was the best he could do right now. "If we had kids, would you make me choose between them? This is exactly what this feels like," he smirked.

"Awww," CJ, being easily distracted, cried out in adoration as she pulled a frame out of the box. Her attention was now completely transfixed upon it, allowing her to forget about the puzzles. "Do you remember when this was taken? Our first meal after we moved in together on the Yorktown." Her eyes moved to meet with Henry's, gleaming with excitement. "We should replicate it, here! Tonight! We can put the pictures side by side up on the wall. What do you think?"

"Can I bring a puzzle?" Henry asked with a grin.

"Is my company no longer enough to satisfy you?" Charlie looked at him with puppy eyes.

"More than," he replied, his cheeks growing warm. "I think it's a great idea. How about I shift the rest of these things and you relax before we have dinner?"

"I'll get dinner started while you finish," Charlie hopped up from the floor, the picture still in hand. "Do you remember what all we had that night?" She asked, inspecting the photo for clues. "Biryani chicken, darvot fritters, and what else? I can't remember."

"You really asking me?" Henry replied as he placed an ornament on the shelf and then stepped back to admire its location. "I think there was some kind of salad, maybe some kind of bread too? Naan? Pita?" He decided that he didn't like the location of the ornament and moved it a centimetre to the left. "I do remember I wanted a fruit salad for dessert and you called me boring. You made me eat some kind of cake, cream thing. It wasn't very good," he added as he moved the ornament back a centimetre to the right.

"Cream cake? Italian creme cake? That's delicious! It's not my fault you have poor taste," she chuckled before turning towards the replicator. "I guess it doesn't have to be an exact replica for dinner." Charlie scrolled through options, first making the biryani chicken and fritters. Once they appeared, she carefully set them on the table, pushing a few unplaced items to the side before returning. "Hmmm...naan sounds good actually and since you hated the creme cake so much, I guess we'll go with fruit salad this time," the words came out more like a mumble than registered speech.

After everything had been placed on the table, CJ snuck into their bedroom while Henry was still distracted. She moved to her suitcase, which remained unpacked, and dug towards the bottom until her hand settled on a box. A soft smile grew on her face as the box emerged. An antique one thousand piece puzzle of the most adorable baby otters in an ocean scene. She'd found it in a shop on their last shore leave before the transfer and as much as she hated how much space Henry's collections took, she couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy it for him as a gift. A peek out of the door revealed that her husband was still engrossed in his unpacking tasks so Charlie snuck back in to take a seat at the table, placing the puzzle in the center.

"Henry sweetheart, dinner is ready," Charlie called to him.

"Urm.. what?" Henry said, currently staring at two identical-looking artefacts and wondering where they should go. "Oh," he said as he realised that CJ had set the table and was waiting for him. He put the objects down and took his seat. "This looks great," he commented, looking at the food in front of him, his eyes landing on the jigsaw. "Is this for me?" He asked, his eyes twinkling. "This is great. Wait, were we meant to be doing presents? I didn't get you anything." The words hurried out of him as he started to panic.

"Yea, we talked about it!" CJ lied but could only hold the serious expression for a few seconds before laughing. "No. We weren't doing presents. I just saw this and couldn't pass it up. I thought you would like it and I was hoping we could do it together," she said, the smile on her face manifesting the love she had for Henry.

Henry smiled, she was the only person in the universe who could be thoughtful enough to buy him a present that she knew he would love and make him feel guilty about it, all at the same time. "Oh, you wanted to help?" He asked in mock disgust. "You always start with the middle pieces, it's actually insane."

She laughed. "Me? Insane? Out of ALL of the dessert options in the replicator, you wanted fruit salad. I don't think I'm the crazy one here. But first," CJ held a finger up, signaling to pause before either of them touched anything, "we need a photo! To commemorate our first night on the Athena."

"Fruits not insane, it's a healthy-" he paused as she held her finger up. "Oh, we mustn't forget the picture," he teased. "Come on then before this goes cold, though at least the fruit salad will still be okay," he added with a smirk.

They both smiled, doing their best to mimic the pose from the previous picture, as the photo snapped. "It's perfect," Charlie looked at the resulting image before showing it to Henry. "Now let's get to this puzzle, I know it's literally killing you to wait." She chuckled, watching Henry as he eagerly eyed the antique on the table.

Henry reached for the puzzle and then thought better of it. "No let's eat first, I know what you're like when you're hungry." As they began to tuck into the food that CJ had prepared a look came across Henry's face. "You know, I think I do fancy a cream cake dessert thing," he said enjoying the surprised look on his wife's face. "We could have it in the bedroom..." he added while grinning. The smile he received back told him it was going to be a good night.