Interlude
The haze of slow descending autumnal air was not noticed by Kate who sensed only spring and the blossoming of new life.
Amazed by their luck at finding a flower garden free from tourists and most other visitors, the two women stepped softly down the winding paths of the sculptured botanical reserve with eyes and minds wide open to the possibilities ahead.
The pinks, purples, yellows and greens of every lush plant and hanging tree formed a haven for the susceptible mind, but to the sceptic and to Jeri, every stem and succulent told a tale of warning.
Flowers bloomed and died, leaves similarly, and this growth and death was all necessary for life to begin again.
But the small plants, flowers and trees in this garden where disease.
Perhaps Kate was not a gardener, Jeri pondered, noticing tiny portions of decay on the stems of the prettiest flowers. And larger areas of decay on the largest trees.
Maybe her eyesight was compromised.
It was the evening and there were natural shadows over and among the leaves and branches, over and under the petals and across the drying soil.
The air was sweet with a perfume of so many magnificent petals. But Jeri sensed an odour of rot amongst it.
Her expression slowly contorted as it began to feel like a stench.
"It's perfect, isn't it?"
Kate's red hair glowed in the dying sun as her wide, shining eyes beheld the light of her life.
To Kate, Jeri's beauty was beyond this world.
The younger woman was the centerpiece of this exquisite garden. Her blonde hair was the sun and her eyes were every universe rolled into one.
Jeri emanated beauty and freedom. And in that moment, Kate's amor was such that the younger woman's discomfort was imperceptible to her.
And unwilling for there affair to end, Jeri chose not to inform Kate the wiser, smiling gently at her in response.
The truth was that Jeri saw the outwardly beautiful, but decayed and dying garden as a reflection of her relationship with the older woman.
And Jeri was regrettably reminded of the unpleasant start of their acquaintance, when she joined the Voyager cast.
Maybe they were each so distracted by the speed of a sudden romance that they hadn't really considered what's the costs may be.
They could have something close to a perfect life in secret but there was no way in this day and age of media and publicity that their romance could possibly stay secret. It was difficult enough for heterosexual celebrity couples to have privacy. What would it be like for two women ...
Birds twittered and car engines rumbled in the short distance.
Kate's hand slipped into hers. Not enquiring at all as to why her young partner had remained silent, the older woman's gentle hands started riding up the skin of her arms, smoothing her lovingly as she smiled into her brooding blue eyes.
"... Perfection... That is what you are..."
Kate spok in a whispered rasp which usually stirred Jeri's senses, making a desire too persistent to ignore.
And Jeri suddenly realised that Kate was in fact acknowledging her silence.
But it had been misconstrued.
Kate wasn't a fool. She know her young partner had been anxious about fidelity. Loyalty to her husband, and to their family.
What she didn't know was just how scared her young partner was of how they were soon to be unwilling media-fodder.
And how this may have repercussions which neither of them would think possible.
"... Perfection..." Kate purred a second time , hands gliding onto Jeri's shoulders and collar.
Kate's touch very gradually began to work it's magic upon Jeri.
The younger woman slowly lowered her resistance and started to enjoy the sensation of touch more and more.
The evening sun began to blaze and Jeri pondered weakly how she had made it through tough times before.
Moving further into Kate's touch and caressing the older women's arms and torso slowly in return, Jeri slipped further into denial, insisting to herself that the powers that be would never part her from her son.
She was his mother.
Curling her cheek into Kate's palm and inhaling the thick perfume of the diseased flower garden, her eyelids became heavy with a desire which she knew would have a high and terrible cost.
But whatever battles which would soon come, they would face together.
Two captain's upon uncharted waters. With hell as the limit.