Of Monkeys and Boyfriends ?

Posted on 25 Apr 2016 @ 2:42am by Senior Chief Petty Officer Mila Rasputin & Ensign Aidan Crehan

2,077 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: USS Black Hawk, Mila’s Quarters
Timeline: MD 7 - after Never Going to Let You Down

Aidan stood outside the door to Mila’s room once again. Only this time he would be going in; which felt a bit awkward seeing as how she wasn’t there and he was unaccompanied. But Chow was in there and he knew Aidan. So it wasn’t all that bad. He keyed her authorization into the panel beside the door and watched as it swooshed open.

Aidan stepped inside and looked around. There was a chair that looked very comfortable with a big, furry, white hat laying on it, a couch, and a coffee table with some darkened PADDs laying it, but no Chow. He walked further in and noticed that there was a shelf on the wall with what appeared to be ornately dressed porcelain Russian dolls on it. She also had real books with titles written in Russian. On another shelf, he saw a picture of Mila with her parents and smiled.

“Chow,” he called out. “It is Aidan. Where are you?”

Chow came bursting out of Mila's bedroom with a series of hoots, howls and skidded to a stop when he said Aidan. He looked at the door to the quarters, then slowly approached the man and looked up at him, then gave a softer hoot and cocked his head to the side.

“I know, Chow. I am not who you were expecting.” He sighed. “I will tell you where she is, but first, I bet that you are very hungry. One bowl each of grapes, yogurt, and pistachios, if memory serves me right.” He then chuckled, realizing what he said about his El-Aurian memory.

Chow rubbed his belly and hooted, then looked towards the door again and back at Aidan. He ran and jumped up on a small stand which had a trophy of some kind on it and looked at him again, then at the door, and finally at the replicator where he knew his food came from.

Aidan took a deep breath. “Okay, bear with me for a moment. The door would be the one who isn’t here, so Mila. Mila…display box…me…Mila…replicator. Okay, this is Mila’s and you want me to see it before I get your food. I am getting better at this, you know, Chow.”

Aidan walked over to where Chow was standing on the small stand. There, before him, was display case holding the trophy. It showed four highly decorative playing cards, all Aces of each suit. And it was inscribed Betazoid Poker Tournament Champion 2384. “I never would have guessed Mila to be a poker player, Chow. Let alone have the poker face and clearness of thought to be a champion of the Betazoid Poker Tournament. Our Mila is full of surprises, isn’t she? But I like it. Perhaps she can teach me some of the finer points one day.” He patted Chow on the head and turned to head to the replicator. But something in the corner caught his eye. “What is that?” he said. Hanging on a coat rack in the corner was a black leather vest. On the back was the same playing cards as was on the trophy. “And a matching black leather vest,” he said. Which I bet that she looks terrific, he thought.

Chow jumped over to where he was and tugged at the vest, then leaped to Aidan's side and scrambled to his shoulder. He gave a soft whimpering noise and pointed at the door and tapped on Aidan's head gently with his other paw.

“Oh!” he exclaimed. “I am so sorry, Chow. Mila is in Sickbay. She is very sick and needs lots of rest, medicine, and special attention. I was just there and the medical staff is taking excellent care of her.” He reached up to pet Chow’s paw that was grasping his shoulder. “She misses you very much and sends her love. I am here to care for you, Chow. Just as I am here to care for Mila.” He choked back a tear as he touched the vest.

The little Capuchin listened to the emotional sound of the man's voice and gave a small cry before he wrapped his tail across the back of Aidan's neck. He hunkered down on Aidan's shoulder and shivered, then gave another small hoot. He knew something was wrong and had seen his mistress with the man and looking happy, but now she wasn't here and he wasn't happy.

Aidan felt Chow’s tail come around his neck as he hunkered down and shivered. He reached up and rubbed him. “But she will be okay. As I told her, Starfleet has the best doctors and medical technology. They will find out what this virus is and will learn how to cure it. Then she will be better and we can give her a welcome home party.” He smiled as he thought about what he could do. “In the meantime, you need something to eat.” Aidan walked to the replicator and ordered one bowl of grapes, one bowl of yogurt, and one bowl of pistachios. He removed two of the bowls and realized that he didn’t know where to put them. “Where do you normally eat, Chow?”

Chow perked up a little, then waved a paw towards a small stand by the window which had a small chair next to it that had been hidden beside the couch until one noticed it. He gave a hoot and chittered in Aidan's ear, then patted his cheek softly.

“Ah, I see,” he said. Aidan walked the bowl of yogurt and bowl of grapes to the small stand and set them down. “Pistachios, we cannot forget the pistachios.” Aidan walked back to the replicator to retrieve the last bowl and bring it over.

Chow hopped down and picked up a grape to dip in the yogurt and ate it, then reached for another while he waited on the pistachios. When it arrived, he lifted the bowl and dumped them all into the yogurt and mixed them up with a finger. Before he began to eat, he raised the bowl of yogurt-covered pistachios and offered some to Aidan.

Aidan looked down at the bowl and smiled. “Thank you, Chow. I would not mind trying one.” Aidan dipped his finger and thumb into the bowl, removed a yogurt-covered pistachio, and popped it into his mouth. “Very good,” he said. “I can see why these are your favorites. You are a master chef, Chow.” Aidan dipped his head towards the Capuchin.

Chow hooted and took the bowl back, getting one out for himself, then popped a grape in his mouth. After a few minutes, he sat back and patted his belly and looked up at Aidan again, then at the door.

“It will most likely be a few days before Mila is able to return,” he said. He thought that it must really hurt Chow to not have his Mila here, the way he kept looking at the door. “However, if you would accept, I could take you to live with me while she gets better. I have a roommate, though. But he is a nice young man.”

Of course, Chow had no idea what the man was saying, he understood his mistress's name and hooted, then picked up two of the bowls and went over to the recycler and jumped up to put them in it before he went back for the last one. When he finished, he looked up at Aidan expectantly and gave a hoot.

Aidan looked down at Chow. “I’m sorry, have I forgotten something?” he asked. “Are you sleepy?” Aidan pointed to Chow and then put his hands together on the side of his head. “Or thirsty?” He pretended to drink from a glass. Aidan, still learning how to communicate with Chow, hoped he wasn’t being too simple with him.

Chow shook his head and pointed at the vest, then the door and gave another hoot.

"Do you want to go see Mila?" he asked. He pointed to Chow, then himself, then to the vest, and finally to the door.

Chow hooted and nodded his head, not knowing that he wouldn't be allowed in Sickbay unless he was sick or for a check up.

Aidan shook his head. “I am sorry, Chow. You are not allowed in Sickbay, you’re not sick.” He sat down on the couch and patted the side next to him. “Besides, I do not think Mila would want you exposed to whatever this is.”

Chow gave a sad hoot at Aidan's tone and jumped beside of it, then laid his front paw's and head on his leg.

Aidan sighed. “I know, Chow. I wish that I could have stayed with her longer. But she needs to sleep.” He rubbed Chow’s back and looked around Mila’s room. She had been in here many times, but this was his first. And she was in Sickbay, unable to sleep or rest when she did or something. “But you will see her again. We will see her again.”

Mila had taken the time to arrange the quarters more to her liking after she had came from Deep Space 11, but the furnishings were still very much Starfleet. There was a small holo-image on a stand by the door of a ship called the USS Nebuchadnezzar revolving around and around, a few holo-chips stacked next to it, and a plaque turned facedown under the holo.

The little monkey closed his eyes and sighed but relaxed when Aidan petted his back. A bit later, he looked up and gave a hoot, then looked at the door again.

Aidan wasn’t sure, but he guessed that Chow was probably accustomed to Mila coming home. And when she didn’t, he probably got lonely. If Capuchins got lonely. His only in-depth animal or pet interaction had been with the animals on El-Auria when he assisted his father in the veterinarian business. And that was over one-hundred fifty years ago. But he decided to give it a shot.

As Aidan spoke to Chow, he made the same gestures and pointed to things as Chow had. “Chow, would you like to sleep in my quarters until Mila comes home? I have a roommate, but he is nice. His name is Quinn.” That last phrase may not have gone through because he didn’t know of any way to gesture that. But he hoped that mentioning Quinn’s name would help when they meet.

Chow looked up at him and gave a hoot when Aidan pointed at various things, then jumped up and hooted again before he pointed at the door.

“Do you have a bed that you sleep in?” he asked. He pointed to Chow and put his hands together at the side of his head as if he were sleeping. He then held them up in a shrug, showing he didn’t know where it was.

Chow cocked his head to one side, then the other before he hooted and ran into Mila's bedroom where he had came from when Aidan first came. A few minutes later, he came dragging out a small pet bed that had two small pillows in it and a Capuchin-sized terry cloth robe that looked suspiciously like a Command uniform turned into a robe, complete with four pips embroidered on the collar.

Aidan laughed. “I like it, Chow. Or should I say Captain Chow.” He pointed to Chow, the bed and robe, the door, to himself, and then made the gesture of sleep. “Shall I carry your bed and robe for you the place where I sleep?” Then he knelt down and offered to pick them up.

Chow hooted and jumped up on Aidan's shoulder, then pointed to the door while he gave another hoot as if he were saying 'Make it so!'

“Alright, Captain. All ahead full impulse.” Aidan walked out the door and then turned to re-enter Mila’s code to secure her quarters. “We are off to the house of Aidan.”

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