A Quiet Dinner

Posted on Sat Sep 13th, 2025 @ 12:43am by 1st Lieutenant Kara Melo & Major Cameron Bourne

2,665 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Broken Mirror
Location: Kara's Quarters

Kara decided she wanted some privacy for their first dinner. She didn't want people overhearing their conversation, and she didn't want to feel awkward in public. It wasn't that she felt awkward around Cam. She didn't. But she also knew that there would be scuttlebutt and she'd rather not hear the whispers and speculation. Plus, having dinner in her quarters would give them the opportunity to really talk.

She chose to wear a sleeveless dress in peacock blue and black sandals. Wine was chilling in a bucket, the food she'd picked up from the lounge was waiting in a warmer, and all she needed now was Cam.

Walking along the Marine Deck, Cam was on his way to Kara's quarters. She'd invited him to have dinner with her alone and he wasn't going to say no to spending time with her. He'd chosen to dress up for her, deciding on a black dinner suit with a white shirt and a black bowtie. Feeling very James Bond, Cam paused for a moment outside her door before knocking

As soon as she heard the knock, the butterflies started raving in her stomach. It was not the reaction she wanted. There was no reason to be nervous. At least, that's what she told herself as she went over to the door and opened it.

"Hi." She stepped back so he could enter. He looked good. Better than good. It hit her again how much she'd missed him.

"Hi" Cam said as he stepped in, turned to her, took her hand and gave the back of it a gentle kiss. "You look absolutely stunning," he said as he gave her a warm smile. He'd missed these moments, the moments of peace between missions where he could let everything go and just relax with someone he trusted. With someone who trusted him. Cam hoped this was a first step to getting back to that level of trust.

"You look great," she replied. This felt both awkward and familiar. Awkward only because of the time they'd been apart. It also reminded her again of how lonely she'd been since he left. But that was in the past. She kissed him on the cheek. "Come in."

Stepping in behind her, Cam couldn’t keep his eyes off her as he followed her in. That dress, he hadn’t seen her in anything like that in ages. Looking up for a second, he saw the table, set for two. “Candle light dinner? Very nice.”

She stopped and turned to Cam. "I wanted to start--or restart--on the right foot." The meal was simple: chicken cordon bleu, salad, and chocolate mousse for dessert.

Cam gave Kara a warm smile as he walked over and took her hands, "well you're doing very well. Now you just need to relax. This isn't a performance review"

She smiled ruefully. "It feels like it. Not because I'm concerned about how you'll react to dinner, but because I just want tonight to go well." It was foolish, she knew, but she couldn't help feeling like she was fresh out of training.

Shaking his head, Cam chuckled, “short of the ship blowing up, there’s nothing that can spoil tonight. We could end up sitting in the dark in silence and I’d still be happy just to be here. Now calm down marine, that’s an order” he said before returning to his seat, “at least you’re not serving MRE’s”

"No. No MREs." She chuckled as she put the food on the table. “And, for the record, I wouldn't mind sitting in the dark with you."

Siting patiently as Kara laid out the table, Cam had a warm smile on his face the whole time. Normally he’d be the gentleman and offer to assist, but he got the feeling Kara wanted to do this by herself. Not to prove anything to him, but perhaps to prove something to herself.

She didn't know why she was acting the way she was. She wasn't uncomfortable around Cam. In fact, it was the opposite. Perhaps it was just that she wanted this first dinner to go well and was overthinking everything. She sighed as she plated the food. She was being silly and she needed to relax. She was grateful that Cam gave her this moment to give herself a little pep talk.

When she was done, she turned to Cam. "It's ready. Would you like to pour the wine?"

Cam’s smile only grew wider, “it would be my honour” he said, standing up and picking up the bottle. Grabbing his napkin, he placed it over his forearm as he walked over to Kara, “would madam care for some wine?” He asked in his best British accent.

She laughed, delighted. "Madam would love some wine. Thank you."

Giving her a graceful nod, Cam poured her about half a glass of wine before standing up straight, “please, enjoy” he said before he returned to his seat and poured himself a glass. He loved hearing her laughter, and hearing it again made him realise how much he missed it. It was that moment that Cam fully decided to let Kara set the pace. Although he was happy to pick up where they left off, he could see that wouldn’t be right to her.

Picking up his glass, he held it up to her, “to new beginnings and old flames”

Kara raised her glass to his. "To new beginnings and renewed flames." To her, it was more like a fire she banked and thought forgotten had rekindled and now burned as bright as ever.

Cam grinned at Kara’s words, “renewed flames” he corrected himself before taking a sip of the wine. Placing his glass back down, he moved to the meal before him, “So, how’s it been since I left?” He asked, trying to sound casual.

"Not the same." She shook her head. That was an obvious answer. "Captain Rye was a good Marine, but he was more hands off. He let the platoon leaders do much of the field work and training." She paused as she looked at Cam. "I missed your hands-on style."

“Hmmm, never really considered a hands off approach. Did it produce better results?” Cam asked, fascinated by the idea. His style was to always be first in and last out. Cam was never one for sitting back and ordering others to go.

"That depends. I was the lead Marine for a lot of missions." She shrugged. "But I appreciate backup--or a partner." She was glad Cam was in charge on the mercenary ship. She would have been in trouble if he hadn't been there.

Cam smirked, “so what I’m hearing is I need to give you a push out of the nest? Give you a little more command experience”

"No," she laughed. "I had plenty of that under Rye. It's not that he was a bad CO. It was more that he delegated responsibilities, and as Alpha Platoon Leader, it generally fell to me." She looked at Cam for a moment. "I am glad you're back. Really glad."

Cam gave a chuckle, “ah, so you’re glad I’m back because I take on more of an active command role? Maybe I should follow Rye’s style after all”

"If I had a roll, I'd throw it at you," she teased. "Or maybe I'll just eat your dessert."

Cam feigned a surprised expression as he put his hand on his chest, “Ms Kara Melo, you would threaten a man’s dessert? You are evil”

"Well, since it contains chocolate..." She grinned. Laughing with Cam was another thing she missed. Another of so many....

“Ah ha, so this was your plan all along. To take my dessert from me. You’re quite the witty adversary Ms Melo”

"You'll just have to give me a reason to share, then," she replied impishly. "Otherwise..."

“A reason to share? Well, I think I can come up with something.” He said as he stood up, walked over to stand in front of Kara, “computer, play Bourne playlist 3” he said holding out his hand as a playlist of smooth jazz started playing. “May I have this dance?”

A slow smile spread across her face. "Yes," she said as she put her hand in his.

Gently pulling her to her feet, Cam lead her to a clear spot in her quarters, placed a hand on her hip while taking the other in his hand and starting to slowly sway back and forth.

Kara put her free hand on his shoulder. She moved a little closer and closed her eyes.

Giving her a smile, Cam held her close as they swayed. It was the simple moments like this he missed the most, the quiet times.

Kara didn't step back when the music ended, unwilling to break contact or the mood of the moment.

After a moment of silence, the song ‘once upon a dream’ began to play. Giving a slight chuckle, Cam continued to dance with Kara. “I swear I didn’t plan that”

She chuckled softly. "I believe you. We'll put it down to karma." Or just good luck. She didn't mind as it allowed her to keep dancing with Cam.

For the rest of the night, the two of them slow danced to dozens of songs. As the night became late, Cam decided to bring the night to an end, leave it as a perfect evening. Stepping back over to the table, he retrieved his coat. “Thank you for dinner, it was good to spend time with you. I should go”

Kara didn't want him to go. Spending the evening with him brought back so many memories and she wasn't ready to go back to being alone. "If you have to..."

Kara’s words and tone made him freeze. He’d hoped she’d say something like that, but wasn’t prepared for how she said it. It felt like he was about to leave her again, and his heart felt heavy. Turning to her, he smiled, “I can stay if you want. I don’t mind the walk of shame”

"Walk of shame?" She wasn't sure what that meant.

Cam chuckled as he shook his head, “never mind, old earth custom.” He said stepping over to her, “Kara. Do you want me to stay? I’m not going to pressure you at all.”

"I know you're not going to pressure me. If I ask you to go, you'll go." She paused. "But I don't want you to go."

“Then” Cam reached out and took Kara’s hands, “I’m won’t go anywhere.” He said as he raised her hands up to his lips and gave them a gentle kiss. “Should I take the couch?”

"After a question like that, I should say yes. Or throw a pillow at you."

“Oh, is that so? Maybe I should make you take the couch, how’s that sound Melo?” Cam said playfully as he reached forward to give her sides a tickle.

This meant war. She evaded the tickle and grabbed a pillow from the couch as an assault weapon to bat off any further forward maneuvers.

Cam put on a serious expression, “ma’am, put down the pillow” he said, holding out one hand while putting the other on his belt for an imaginary phaser.

"Yeah? Or what?" she asked, holding tighter to her pillow. "You threatened me with your fingers of doom. Now, it's self-defense."

“Sorry, Ma’am, but you are under arrest for brandishing a squishy weapon, theft of vital organs, attempted murder via suffocation and looking thar damn fine”

Kara wasn't sure if she should smack him or laugh. So, she tried both, swinging the pillow as she tried to control her laughter.

Cam quickly caught the pillow and pulled Kara into his arms, holding her tight, “Ms Melo, you’re under house arrest. You are not to leave these arms for the rest of the evening”

"Promises, promises," she teased.

“Oh, it’s more than a promise. I’m never letting you go again” Cam said as he gave her a squeeze, “and that is an oath”

"Good." Then she pushed up on her toes and kissed him.

Returning her kiss, Cam picked Kara up in his arm and carried her over to her bed, flopping onto it with her still held in his arms. "Comfortable?"

"Getting there," she teased, gently caressing his cheek.

Leaning into her hand, Cam smiled, “well, I’m happy to wait for as long as it takes. I know I broke your trust, and that takes time to repair. Just remember I’ll be here”

Kara sighed. She thought she'd already explained this. "Cam, you didn't break my trust. You left. I know it was because you no longer wanted to be a Marine. I don't fault you for that. But we just...never found the time to get together. Either I was out on the fringes somewhere or you were busy making a new life for yourself. After a while, I didn't think it was fair to you to keep you tied to someone you barely spoke to. At the time, I thought it was best for both of us." She raised an eyebrow as she added, "You didn't argue the point." Which she took as agreement. "I even thought I'd fallen out of love--until I saw you in the shuttle bay--and I believed you'd moved on."

"At the time, I thought you'd grown to hate me. That's why I didn't push back against the divorce. I didn't think it was fair to keep you tied to someone who could never be there for you." Cam replied, pausing for a moment. "and you're right, I wanted to leave. If you'd asked me back then why, I wouldn't have been able to give you a straight answer. Probably would've said something about having done my bit for king and country. It took me too long to realize that I was just afraid. You'd seen me at my worst, accepted my flaws and even helped me through more than a few nightmares, and still agreed to marry me. That, deep down, terrified me and I didn't know how to handle it. I was too stubborn to just talk to the most important person in my life, you. so, I ran."

After a pause, Cam continued, "I know we're trying to make it work again. and we clearly still both care for each other deeply. I just want to make sure that I don't make that same mistake again. If I'm being too open I'm sorry. I don't mean to put a damper on your perfect night"

"You aren't putting a damper on anything. We need to talk and we need to be honest with each other. I wasn't ready to leave the corps, and I wasn't ready to leave the ship. I was hurt, and I convinced myself we were better off going our separate ways. I tried to make time to see you, at first, but I honestly don't know if I could--or should--have tried harder." She gently caressed his cheek. "I don't know how easy or hard it will be, but I love you, and I want to try again. I don't want to feel as empty as I have for the past year."

“Nor do I, Imzadi. I’m done running, I’m done being afraid. Whatever comes next, I want to face it with you by my side.” Cam said, looking into her eyes. “No labels, no complications, just us”

"Yes." It was what she wanted, too. "Although I'm sure there will be complications at some point. Those seem to be inevitable. We just face them together." And then, because she couldn't help herself, she kissed him again.

End:

Major Cameron Bourne
Marine CO/love struck puppy
USS Calypso

1st Lieutenant Kara Melo
Squadron Leader
USS Calypso

 

RSS Feed