Green Therapy, Part II
Posted on Sun Dec 21st, 2025 @ 3:02am by Crewman Emiliano Echevarria & Ensign Luciana Aguila
Edited on on Wed Dec 24th, 2025 @ 11:56am
1,515 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
The Menagerie II
Location: Arboretum, Deck 7
Timeline: MD 11, 1420 Hours
He shifted closer--not crowding her, just closing the last bit of space the Arboretum had left between them. He was almost close enough to feel the warmth of her. And it made him feel human.
"If this turns out to be a good thing," he went on, "I don't want it to be because you convinced me. I want it to be because I didn't... flinch."
"I can promise you it'll be a good thing," Luci started. If this was that moment, she had no idea. She held out her hand for him to take. "But it's up to you when or if you want to take that step."
Emiliano took a tiny step closer, and then another, until the space between them felt like it had all but condensed into a thin wisp of air. His chest was tight, heart hammering against ribs like an overzealous drum section playing out of sync. He had never--never--initiated a kiss in his life. Not really. He had been kissed. And now, with Luci standing there, the perfect balance of calm and beauty, the universe narrowed everything into this one delicate moment.
He leaned in.
Not smoothly. Not even close to like the stories he'd read. Not with any of the cinematic grace in old Earth movies. His hands hovered uselessly at his sides. Emil wasn't sure if he should touch her chin or her face or reach for the back of her head. And so his hands simply remained there.
He closed his eyes, bracing, trying to remember how a person kisses someone they like.
And then Mateo barked.
Not a little bark. An urgent, blood-in-the-ear-canal sort of bark. Like he was shouting, Something is happening over there!
Emil's eyes snapped open just in time to see a small blur dart across the Arboretum floor--a common enough critter, one of the capuchin dwarf monkeys that were kept in a little leafy enclosure, now apparently on stroll. Mateo, pure instinct, bolted after it.
The leash jerked hard. Emiliano yelped. His boots skidded across the tiled floor. He went down like a marionette with its strings cut, landing on his hip and knocking the wind out of himself. Mateo, oblivious to protocol, was halfway across the Arboretum in pursuit of the tiny monkey--his tail high and barking triumphantly.
One second it looked like Luci was going to be kissed and the next, Emil was on the ground and Mateo was halfway across the arboreteum chasing a... monkey? So much had just happened in the space of thirty seconds.
Instinctively, Luci's hand flew to cover her mouth. She didn't know if she needed to gasp or laugh so covering it was the next best option. "¡Dios mío!" she said once a moment had passed, crouching down to help Emiliano up. "Are you okay? You didn't hurt anything, did you?"
Once he was up, Luci looked over to where she could hear the barking of Mateo coming from. "I think we should maybe go and get him before he destroys the peace and quiet and we get banned from here."
"Diay," he muttered, because sometimes there was no better word for a moment that had gone sideways at lightspeed.
The Arboretum had gone very quiet in the way public places do when everyone pretends not to be staring. The older couple had paused mid-sip, the Vulcan angled her head by about three degrees. Even the botanist has stopped paying attention to her work.
"I'm so sorry," Emiliano said, to nobody and everybody. "He's normally well-behaved."
Mateo's barking echoed from deeper in the greenery--triumphant and unrepentant. He was filled with the joy of having finally found something chaseable aboard the Astrea. The capuchin was already gone, but Mateo hadn't yet accepted this information.
"Luci," Emiliano said, "which direction is that barking coming from?"
"I think he disappeared somewhere towards the back corner over there, but I can't really be sure, unfortunately." Luci replied with a frown. "What about if you call for him? Would he respond that way? Or do we have to go searching for him?"
Emiliano closed his eyes and lifted two fingers to his mouth. "Mateo!" he called, voice carrying, warm and edged with a little worry. "Venga acá, mae! Suave, suave!" ("Come here, buddy! Easy, easy!")
Somewhere deeper in the Arboretum, the barking paused. Not stopped completely. Just a momentary reconsideration.
Emiliano looked to Luci then took a few careful steps forward. "Diay, Mateo! Pura vida, hombre! No sea necio." ("Come on, Mateo! Let's go! Don't be silly.")
There was a rustle. Then a thump. Then another bark, closer this time. It sounded less like triumph and more like he might be saying: Perhaps I've misjudged the situation.
Mateo burst back into view between two fern clusters, his tongue lolling around, tail wagging like he were an aircraft trying to generate lift. Skidding to a stop a few feet from Luci and Emil, he looked up with a silly expression that seemed to say: You saw that, right? Did you see me almost become a legend?
Emiliano laughed. "There you are," he said, crouching low enough to meet Mateo's eyes. "¿Ya estuvo? Done saving the ship yet?"
Mateo thumped his tail once, agreeing. He walked over to where he was between their legs and Emiliano took the opportunity to reclaim the leash. Order was now restored.
The Vulcan officer--a Lieutenant in the uniform of a science officer--gave them a half-offended look and continued his stroll.
Luci couldn't help but laugh at the look of triumph on the dogs face and how satisfied with himself he was.
"All bark and no victory, hey boy?" Mateo looked up at her, tongue hanging out and panting happily in response, earning him a pat.
"Well that's definitely some excitement for the day, I think I'm the only one who's not a casualty at the moment!" Luci laughed again as she stood there waiting for a direction to walk in. "I think that's going down in the history books because I don't think that can be topped."
Emiliano grinned while rubbing his injured side. "Wish someone had told us there were small animals living in here," he muttered. "What do you think if we find some other venue?"
"We could always go back to my quarters if you want?" Luci let the question hang there for a moment, "You've got mud on your shirt and we can get it washed, plus the quarters are shared and dog friendly. Or we can go somewhere else like a restaurant, your choice."
She wasn't too fussed on what they did, as long as they didn't end up more injured or embarrassed.
He stood there with one hand on Mateo's leash and the other pressed lightly to his side, feeling the ache bloom and settle. Mud darkened the front of his shirt. But it was his dignity that hadn't survived. His heart, annoyingly, was still very much awake.
Luci's quarters. The phrase arrived in his mind fully furnished. Expectations--real or imagined--lined up in his mind, waiting to be acknowledged.
Mateo sensed nothing of this and has sat up and looked Emiliano with total confidence. We are fine, he seemed to say. We chased destiny. We lost. We lived.
Emiliano cleared his throat.
"That's... kind of you," he said, which was not an answer in itself but a stop along the path to one. He glanced down at the mud on his shirt, then beyond Luci's shoulder where a fig tree leaned toward one of the artificial lights.
"I'm tempted," he admitted, honest to the point of discomfort. "For very practical reasons." He motioned to his shirt.
"Yes, practical reasons," Luci laughed in reply and tapped him in the middle of his forehead, lightly of course, "Don't overthink it either, I can see where your brain is going to." Her smile was wide and genuine, all traces of earlier emotions gone.
"And plus, if the pain in your ribs gets too bad, we can take you to Sickbay and see one of the nurses there."
Emiliano grinned at her. He loved the way she listened not just to what he said, but even the pauses, treating them with the same care. His admiration of her didn't feel like urgency or fire; it felt like orientation--as if he suddenly knew where north was, and realizing he'd been walking in circles for a very long time. And she was beautiful. He knew his mother would approve.
"Well then," he said, unable to take his eyes off her. "Your quarters. Let's, uh, get going."
Ensign Luciana Aguila
Structural/Environmental Specialist
USS Astrea
Crewman Emiliano Echevarria
Operations Technician
USS Astrea
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