Dancing the Night Away - Part II

Posted on Wed Dec 17th, 2025 @ 9:58pm by Aislinn Finnegan & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Keel
Edited on on Wed Dec 17th, 2025 @ 10:51pm

3,401 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Side Plots
Location: Holodeck
Timeline: MD7

::ON::

A couple of minutes later and they were stepping onto the holodeck. The theme was old country and the holodeck itself had been turned into a barn complete with hay bails, wooden beams, a dirt dance floor and a bar over to one side with some refreshments and food nearby. A band had even been rustled up for the night and they were playing all the classics such as Whiskey on the Wireframe, Last Saloon Before the Expanse, and Starfield Lullaby.

"Wow, they've really gone all out on this tonight!" Aislinn said as she looked around. She was happy the crew were able to put on little events such as this and have so many people willing to participate in it. It was going to be a really good night.

"Ma, I can see Tristan over there. Can I go and see him?" Rose pointed to the redheaded kid over to one side with some others.

"Go on then, but just remember what I said, okay?" Aislinn reminded her and she nodded in reply before disappearing to go catch up with her friends.

Turning to Ryan, her arm still through his, Aislinn took his hat and put it on her own head with a laugh. "Dancing doesn't commence for like another half hour, what would you like to do?"

'How about another non-alcoholic drink?' Keel suggested, pointing towards the bar. Groups of parents were drifting too and from there, some being more responsible with their alcohol intakes than others. As he led them across the space, he stopped to avoid ploughing in to a gaggle of children that burst across their path. This is going to be ... interesting he thought to himself with a chuckle.

"I think I could go for a wine if we're going to be dealing with this all night, no offence." Aislinn suggested. The whole plan she had for tonight was to get some dancing done and get to Ryan a little bit better, but the most important part was so that Rose could have some fun and spend time with people her own age. "Maybe non-alcoholic a little later on?"

'Wine for the lady,' he said with a smile as he flicked the brim of his hat. He de-linked arms long enough to fetch them both a red wine. Looking around at the chaos, he widened his eyes in mock horror and asked, 'are these things always so ... full of energy?'

"These things are called children," Aislinn laughed as she sipped the wine. It was good! "And yes, they are always full of energy until they crash and then it's blissful silence. Which is nice. I've found the trick is to not overload them with sugar, which I'm pretty sure all of these ones are."

Keel chuckled, sure that she knew he was referring to the dance and not the kids. 'We could find a quiet corner, if you'd like? Until the dancing starts?' He pointed over to some trestle tables and haybales that had been set up for tired feet. They had a good view of the barn and were relatively low-lit compared to the rest of the room.

She let him lead the way and mocked, "Have you got tired feet already? However are ya gon' last the night!" She giggled as they took a seat and drank the wine.

Taking a sip of his own wine, Keel laughed and shook his head. 'Not tired. Not yet, anyway.' Another pair of kids slalomed past. 'I am afraid of being collided with by a rogue body though, they move so fast.' He shook his head and chuckled. 'So ... this is the sort of stuff you do when you're not dishing up the best raktajino for several sectors in all directions?'

Aislinn took off the hat and placed it back on Ryan's head, her hand lingering on it just a moment too long before she took it back. "I wouldn't go that far, but I'll take the compliment. When I get a chance to, I do enjoy dancing, although this really isn't my style, it's more classical. How about you? Aside from the following orders part, what counts as fun or boring for you?" Fun to her would be a beach vacation

'What do I do for fun?' Keel echoed, buying time as he thought. 'Well ... I like to play instruments, you know. Rigellian blues, Andorian jazz, that kind of music. It's really fun.' He shrugged, 'other than that, normal stuff, good food, good books,' he leaned over and squeezed her hand gently before withdrawing it, 'good company, you know?'

The holding of her hand was a sweet gesture and Aislinn suddenly found herself wishing he hadn't let go and playing with the ring on her finger. "Um, yeah. Good company is always appreciated, especially when we haven't had it for so long, right? But tell me about the music a bit more?" A moment of thought had her thinking about curled up on a sofa with a hot drink and listening to him play music.

'Uh, well,' he said, a little embarrassed, 'I play the harmonica and the banjo.' Keel shrugged, 'they're kinda staples of the music scene back on Rigel - at least the colony where I grew up anyway. Lot's of bluegrass and folk music types made their home there back in the day and, well, I guess about the long and short of it is it stayed popular.'

"That's really cool," she replied with a smile, "I'd love to hear it some time. I don't think I've ever heard bluegrass before, so that would be really interesting to listen to. I grew up with folk music and classical from the mid 20th century so that's all I've got." She laughed, "Even this is country music is weird to me.!" The next sip of wine she had tasted just as good as the first and second.

As they were talking, the music morphed into something more appropriate for a line dance and signalling it was almost time to start. Rose came bounding back up, happy and full of energy, "Ma! Are you and Ryan going to come and dance with me?" She tugged on Aislinn's jeans as she whined.

"We will soon, there's something i need to tell Ryan in private for a minute," Aislinn made a last moment decision and grabbed the hat from him, placing it in front to block Roses view. She spoke low enough for Roseto not hear, "Pretend we're talking and every so often lower the hat to look at her and watch how she'll get annoyed." She laughed quietly.

'Pretend we're talking?' Keel asked with a quizzical smile, 'I thought that was what we'd been doing all night.' He chuckled, and noticed how pretty Aislinn's eyes were and found his throat going dry. 'Is this, uh, a game you play?'

"Yep, but usually I'm talking to an imaginary person. So it's nice to have a real person to talk to." A huff came from beyond the hat. "See? She's starting to get impatient already." A conspiratory glance at the child from lowering the hat made Rose roll her eyes and announce she was going back to Tristan. "Easy as that." Aislinn laughed again.

She swallowed as she looked at him and bit her bottom lip for a moment, fully aware his hat was still being held up to block them. "Um, welcome to my life, I guess?"

'Sounds like a good one,' Keel said, eyes flicking down to her lips. He raised a hand slowly to run a thumb across her lower lip gently, then bent in to kiss her tenderly. He retreated quickly, a questioning look in his eyes. 'I hope that wasn't too forward of me ...'

It was unexpected, to say the least! Aislinn pulled back, her green eyes searching his for something, a flood of emotions washing over her like a tidal wave. Ryan was the first person she'd shared a kiss with since Seamus had died and it made her feel guilty, like she was somehow cheating on him and his memory. But at the same time, she welcomed the sweetness of it. She was confused.

Her emotions must've translated physically into a bit of shock and Aislinn immediately regretted it. "Um," she said and paused for what felt like a long moment. "I... wasn't expecting that." She lowered the hat that had shielded the moment from everyone else and kept looking at him, trying to muster the same smile she had before. "I don't think it was too forward or anything, I just, um, didn't think that would happen so... soon?"

As the moment hung there, she thought internally, I hope this doesn't end things, I actually like him!.

Keel smiled sheepishly, trying to ignore the drum-and-bass gig that was pounding in his chest. He folded his hands across the stem of his wine glass, and looked away for a second, and shrugged. 'No, I didn't think I'd do that so soon either. I just ...' he faltered for a moment, aware of the irony of a diplomat being lost for words. 'In that moment, you looked so beautifully mischievous it just seemed like the right thing to do.'

"Beautifully mischievous?" Aislinn quoted back to him, the initial shock of the kiss wearing off as she realised it wasn't the first time someone had said that to her and it touched on something deep and locked away in her soul. She could feel her heart beating hard and it was like the noise around them had dulled so it was only the two of them. "Can I be completely honest about something?" she asked quickly.

He nodded quickly, taking a sip of wine to mask the nervousness that was stealing across his body. Keel resisted the urge to bounce his knee to expend the energy that was building in his body. 'Of course,' he drawled casually. 'Honesty is always the best policy in matters of the heart,' he said, a quick flash of pain crossing his eyes.

Aislinn took a quick breath in and out before she responded and then took a sip of the wine. She didn't miss the pain flick across Ryan's eyes either. "For the last two years, I've kind of thrown myself into looking after Rose as a single mother," she stole a quick glance over to where Rose was happily dancing with some friends, blissfully unaware of the termoil her mother was experiencing, "and I've put her first before anything else, or anyone else. Since her father passed away, I haven't seen anyone or been with them, let alone shared a kiss, so I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't know how to navigate something like this." She hoped it made sense what she was saying.

Keel leaned back on the hay bale. He nodded. 'I understand, well. To an extent, I understand,' he placed a hand on his own chest. 'I'm a divorcee. A couple of years now. But I haven't really looked at anyone else in a long time.' The man shrugged, 'if it's not something you want to deal with right now, that's OK.'

Aislinn leaned back and rested her head on his shoulder as she watched Rose again and sipped the wine, a sense of calm washing over her that replaced the mixed emotions she was feeling before. Her thoughts went to what he said about being a divorcee and she nodded. A sigh escaped her, "It seems like we've both got baggage then. But I'd like to deal with it together, maybe?" She didn't want to push for anything that neither of them wanted, and it was okay for them to both be hesitant to let their hearts take control for a bit, right?

Staring off into the distance, Keel nodded and smiled, 'yeah. We can deal with it together if you'd like. And if you want a proper date, you know.'

Aislinn lifted her head off his shoulder and looked at him with a smile, "So this doesn't count as one then, is that what you're saying?" She'd been enjoying the night so far, but the thought of having a proper date was uncharted waters to her, but a nice idea too.

Returning the smile, Keel laughed gently, 'I don't think the word date was mentioned, so it seems like cheating to call it one. So how about it, Finnegan, feel like going on a real date with yours truly?'

"I think that would be lovely." Aislinn replied, "And I promise it's only going to be us next time." She laughed again and finished off the wine.

Country music started to play and various people started to go out onto the dance floor, assembling themselves in lines for a line dance. Aislinn watched as Rose and her friends took up the front row and prepared for what they'd been practising the last ten minutes. The dance itself required coordination to keep up the rhythm and move the legs without tripping up or bumping into anyone else.

A larger smile lit up on Aislinn's face as she watched, "Care to try it out or keep watching to try and learn the moves?"

'Oh, I always learn best by doing,' Keel said as he got to his feet with a sigh. He held out his hand to Aislinn. 'We can learn together, if you don't know the moves yourself ...'

Aislinn took his hand to steady herself as she got to her feet. "I don't know the moves either, so let's learn!"

As they moved onto the actual dance floor, it was obvious who knew what they were doing and who didn't: the kids and the more experienced people were up the front and the less experienced people were at the back to avoid embarrassment if they tripped up or bumped into someone else. Aislinn and Ryan were at the back and near the end of the line so there wasn't anyone else to bump into.

Once they were in line, Aislinn kept her eyes on the feet of the woman in front of her and tried to mimick the movements but soon found she wasn't able to do it, and let out a laugh. "Oh lord, this is harder than it looks!"

Coming out of a spin, arms on his hips, Keel looked a little winded. 'You know ... I wasn't expecting this to be such an aerobic work out,' he groused cheerfully, clapping out of time as he got the rhythm completely wrong. 'How are the rest of them so good?'

Aislinn laughed, she was just as out of breath as him, "Lord knows! You'd think they practiced this in their off time or something!" Part of her wanted to give up trying to learn the moves. "I don't think this is the right kind of dance for us!"

'Hell no!' Keel exclaimed as he mimed whirling a lasso around his head and spinning again, before moving into a forward step and mimed shooting a pistol. 'This is not the kind of boogeying I've ever done.' The man narrowly missed colliding with another dancer in the line in front, and shuffled back into position just in time to shuffle forward diagonally like the rest.

At least Aislinn hadn't bumped into anyone. Yet. "I think it's time to maybe take a break before someone gets taken out? Either you, me or someone else at this stage?" She kept the shuffling up but started to back away from everyone else and out of the line, heading back towards the hay bails to have a break. "Want to join me?" He looked as uncoordinated as she did and she found it funny.

'Good idea pal,' Keel replied with a laugh, 'wouldn't want to send any of these guys to Sickbay with a stray leg,' he followed her lead and headed back to the hay bails. He was a fit man, but line dancing was a set of movements his body was unused to, and his knees were glad of the break. Grabbing two waters, he brought them over. 'Thought we could use some of this,' he said, holding out a bottle.

"Oh, you're a life saver!" Aislinn took the bottle from him and downed half of it, welcoming the coldness of the drink to combat the heat she felt like she was radiating. "If there was some way we could all just be born with some knowledge of how to dance, then the worlds would be better off, wouldn't you agree?" She laughed again, "Surely sometime soon there's going to be one of those slower songs that don't require high energy the entire time, right?"

'I dunno, it is a barn dance - I thought the whole point was to line up and not slow-dance together,' Keel pulled a pious face, 'lest that lead to the sin of holding hands.' He shot her a laugh and a wink. 'We could always slow dance somewhere else if the opportunity doesn't avail itself here ...'

"Okay, Mister Uncultured," Aislinn laughed again as she looked at Ryan before watching Rose give up on trying to line dance and just "You do realise that there is more to country music than barn dancing, right? It can be soulful, meaningful, about how a guy is having an affair with his tractor. There are plenty of different genres to it."

She finished off the bottle of water and put it down next to her and shot him a look. "I'm sure Rose is going to be fine for a while with her friends, and I do like the idea of slow dancing somewhere else for a bit to chill out..."

'Oh yeah, we have plenty of songs about affairs with tractors, gators and such back home,' Keel laughed. 'Look, don't leave if Rose is going to stay. I'm sure we can slip whoever's organised this a replicator ration or some holo time to get some slower tunes for a bit.'

Aislinn shook her head, "I may or may not have mentioned to a couple of the parents of the kids here that you were coming with me tonight and they mentioned that they'd be happy for Rose to sleep over tonight if I wanted to make some other plans after this." She was grateful for the community her and Rose had been adopted into since coming aboard the Astrea.

'Other plans?' Keel asked teasingly before taking a deep swallow of water. 'Would these involve, say, a dashing officer, a quiet room and slow-dancing with the stars as a background?'

"That sounds way too romantic for a first date-not-date," Aislinn replied playfully, she could feel the blush rising up her cheeks behind the heat from the dancing before. It was a sweet idea he had. "But I do like that idea. I think it would be a lovely way to end the night, don't you?"

He held out a hand as he got to his feet once more, 'I think so,' Keel said with a smile.

She took his hand and stood up as well, still feeling the heat in her cheeks, "So what would you like to do now?"

Chuckling, Keel pulled her closer, and kept a light grip on her hand. 'Well ... we could find a quiet room and slow dance, if you fancy?'

Aislinn laughed quietly and looked up at Ryan and smiled. Things were happening sooner than she'd planned but she wasn't complaining too much about it. "Give me a couple of minutes to go let Dallas and Rose know, then we can go?"

'Of course,' Keel replied easily, releasing her hand to allow her to chase down her friend and daughter.

::OFF::

TBC in Part III

---

Lieutenant Ryan Keel
Chief of Diplomatic Intelligence
USS Astrea


Aislinn Finnegan
Civillian
USS Astrea

 

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