Sticks and Stones Did Break My Bones, but...

Posted on Mon Feb 2nd, 2026 @ 5:03am by Ensign Henry Taylor & Tessa di'Orion

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: Tessa's Quarters

Henry walked down the corridor with purpose and as he approached Tessa's doors, they opened for him obediently. He saw her standing there pacing and he didn't even slow down as he walked right up to her. "We need to talk," he said.

She’d been pacing ever since she’d gotten back to her quarters, stopping only to pick something up to fiddle with while she paced further and further in the limited confines of the room. Now she dropped the crystalline pyramid that she held as Henry arrived, quickly kicking it towards the dresser so neither would step on it. The aggressive way he moved towards her caused her eyes to open and her hands to come up between them, “Okay, no problem.” She said as he finally stopped, “What about?”

"You, me, us," Henry said. "I need you to understand why I couldn't fight back. I need to understand how you feel, and I need to make sure we're okay."

“It’s okay,” Her hands dropped, “Kally explained it, the chicory thing, chowderys? Shivery? Ugh!” Tessa grumbled, “Whatever it is, I think it’s dumb! It makes it sound like we women are worth less than men and that’s just a stupid way to think! I know some girls who are just outright scary, boys too for that matter, and it doesn’t matter what they have for plumbing!”

Henry blinked as he tried to make sense of what she just said. "Are you...are you talking about 'chivalry'?"

"That's the word!" Tessa said, rolling her eyes at her own mistakes, "Still, same sentiment, it's dumb!"

Henry sighed. "First off, that's not what this is about. That's a factor, but that's not the main issue. Second, you couldn't be more wrong. Chivalry exists not because women are less; it's exactly the opposite. The high value placed in them is why chivalry exists in the first place. But again, that's not the issue here. That's not why I held back."

"Then why, Henry?" Tessa pleaded, "Why would you do that when I said I needed to know what you could do?"

"Tessa, I love you," he said. "And therein lies the problem. I want to prevent you from feeling pain, sorrow, sadness, all of that. I don't want to know what I could do to you. Tessa, I would fight literally anyone else for you. I would have stood up to Cass, your father, and anyone else if I had to, to earn your affections. And before you say it, yes he'd have cut me to pieces before I so much as blinked, I know." He shrugged. "Again, beside the point."

He stepped back and paced a bit. "So, there I am, lying on a biobed getting put back together, and I start thinking about the fact that I just ruined your opinion of me, and how I am determined to fix this. And do you know what I realized?" He looked at her but didn't wait for a response. "I realized that the fact that I love you is the solution. I love who you are, this warrior princess from another world, and I'm going to do what it takes to earn back your love and your respect, even if that means doing the opposite of every instinct I have."

"You don't have to earn back my love, you've never lost that, I promise." Tessa wanted to give him a hug, but wasn't sure if he'd let her do it.

He'd managed to work himself up a fair bit and he stood up to his full height. "Come at me. Let's go. Right now," he said, his voice strong, despite the soreness in his chest.

"Right here?" Tessa looked around the relatively cramped space, "There isn't enough room for it here.. Maybe we should go back to the holodeck?"

"Yes, because attacks in life only come in convenient locations," Henry said. "You've been challenged. Do you accept?"

The Tialan exhaled as she glanced around and took a step back, getting herself into a combat stance, "All right, if you insist." She threw a punch towards his chest, which he blocked with with a sweep of an arm and she followed up with a one-two first aimed towards at a shoulder, then to his gut, the first only glancing as he twisted slightly, the second blocked fully.

"Come on, you can do better than that," he taunted, throwing her training style back at her. "You fractured two of my ribs, now you can't even hit me?"

"There's no room here!" She bit out in a growl as she tried feigning to the right before striking left, but he was ready for her and moved against her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her forward, throwing her past him to the floor. He stepped back, her bed now behind him and squared off. He couldn't hide the pain in his eyes at what he'd just done to her, but he didn't back down.

"Now who's not trying?" he taunted.

In a move clearly choreographed by much experience with Cass doing this to her, she recovered from being cast to the floor and didn't hesitate as she came back at him. This time she struck out with a foot, hitting him solid on the outside of the arm and nudging him to the side slightly, then followed with what was all of her strength she could put into it, meant to impact his shoulder and put him off-balance before following up with a back-kick from her right foot, but she never got there.

As she got close, he grabbed her attacking arm, twirled her around, holding it behind her back. He gave her ass a healthy slap with his free hand, then shoved her away. "Keep it up, this is almost getting fun."

She stumbled over towards the door before catching herself. A slight glow was already filling the room as her eyes blazed with fury. Inside her, she wasn't sure if she were pissed at him or herself for failing to land more than that one strike, but she wasn't going to stop, losing wasn't an option and she moved back in with a rush.

As she charged at him, Henry didn't stop her. He saw the anger on her face and his heart ached, but he was finally ready to finish it. As she got close, he bent down and grabbed her at the waist, using her momentum against her and lifting up, flipping her over his body and dropping her onto her bed.

The bed may have been soft, but it wasn't so soft that the landing didn't drive her entire breath out of her. She gasped for air as the landing stunned her for a bare second and started to scramble back up.

While she fought to reinflate her lungs, Henry spun and dove, straddling her waist, holding her legs down, and grabbing her wrists, pinning them just above her head. With her safely immobilized, he moved down, covering her and looking her in the eye, nearly nose-to-nose. "And you said I couldn't pin you," he said, grinning.

She glared up at him from that span of two inches as she jerked her hips hard and went precisely nowhere. A less forceful jerk of a wrist to free it went the exact same way, her eyes never leaving his. She didn't answer in words, instead leaning up and giving him a kiss that he'd remember if not for the intensity but the emotion behind it was clear. There was pride in him in that kiss, love and determination. She withdrew to look up at him again, "Finally."

Henry kissed her back, his heart swelling in his still-aching chest. When he walked into her quarters he'd had a plan. He was going to show her he could fight, but he couldn't bring himself to strike her. He wanted to show her a balance of their two needs. He then wanted to talk to her about how he felt about it and what he needed from her. He'd had the whole conversation mapped out and what he wanted to say ready to go. That all flew out of his head as she kissed him, and all he wanted was to be with her.

He released her wrists, grabbed her replicated tshirt and ripped it at the neck, tearing it apart and off her. He pulled off his own shirt and threw them both aside, then dove down and kissed her again, wrapping his arms around her and rolling off of her, taking her with him to show her just how much her pride in him meant to him.

She ended up on top of him, her own hands now planted on his shoulders now looking down upon him in triumph of a fight well fought, the grin on her face before she released him to finish the undressing he'd paused at. The victor needed his reward.

---

Henry laid on his back, staring at the ceiling of Tessa's quarters. He was sore in every part of his body. His chest was aching so hard he couldn't take a full breath without discomfort, and he was pretty sure he'd pulled at least one muscle throwing Tessa over him. And he'd never been so happy. Tessa's warm body against his was more soothing than anything in Sickbay, and while he prayed this wasn't how they initiated sex every time going forward, he was content.

He moved down slightly and turned to face her. He kissed her forehead, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. He grinned as her blue eyes looked up at him, loving the look he saw on her face. "Hey, Angel," he said.

Her eyes were glittering with a light in them that was for so many different reasons, "Hey there yourself." She responded, snuggling even closer to him and hooking one leg over his in a move that could only be seen as possessive. The hand on his chest played up and down it, tracing his sternum with one finger. "Thank you." The words could mean anything, but as the emotion she put behind them, they meant everything.

"Thank you for giving me another chance," he said. He watched his fingers as they traced down her side from her shoulder to her thigh and back. "That was...really difficult for me." He took a breath and looked back up at her. "I'd like to readjust how this training happens going forward," he said. "I want to prove my worth to you, but I don't want to have to hurt you to do it. The thought of that hurts me too much."

"You won't hurt me." Tessa stated, a shiver running down her back from his fingers, "I know it doesn't help to hear, but I've gotten bruised and bleeding more than you could think of. Cass always trained full-bore, or at least at a level higher than I could possibly match. Nothing you could do to me could hurt me worse, plus we have the best medical technology on board in case an accident happens." She reached up to stop him from speaking before laying her hand flat on his chest, "I went overboard before, I know it, and I'm sorry."

"I just don't know if I can handle the image in my brain of you bruised or bleeding and it's because of something I did. I know you are strong and can take a blow. I know you've bled before and broken a bone or two. It's not about that." He looked at her and gathered his resolve. "But if we can find a happy medium, I will continue to try. I don't want to let you down."

"You know what? That's all I ask, that you try." She planted a kiss on his chest, "I don't expect you to be the best, I don't expect you to defend me to the death, I don't want that. I can take care of myself, I can defend you, you know. I just.. Didn't mean to hurt you as much as I did."

Henry smiled and held her close, rubbing her back gently. "I'm sorry too," he said. "I didn't explain myself enough from the beginning. I didn't talk about my reservations or my fears. And sometimes, I forget that you and I come from very different backgrounds, and I need to account for that."

"It's not just you, I'm not on Tial, I'm not anywhere near home anymore and while I've been on board since you all picked us up on Trarim, I'm not going home anymore... I'm scared, I guess, and I'm trying too hard to hang on to what it was like before." Tessa huddled up a bit more, holding onto him, "Would it help if I wore padding when we're sparring? That way, even if you do hit me it won't hurt?"

At the word 'scared' Henry's arms went tightly around her as if he could protect her from her own feelings. He held her and he listened. "Maybe," he said. "Or maybe, you can train me using a holographic opponent. That way you can see me fight, but we don't risk you." He got a cheeky grin and let his hand wander down her back to her rear, squeezing it playfully. "Besides, I kind of like us wearing less, not more."

“When weapons training, holographic only.” Tessa agreed wriggled as she wriggled her butt in his hand, enjoying the attention, “Most of the hand to hand too, but I reserve the right to test you here and there in person, fully padded. And I promise I’ll only take my mad out on the holograms, not to try to get you to respond.” Her hand slid down his chest to his stomach, “Do we have an accord?”

"I can work with that," Henry said with a shiver as her hand moved. "A most acceptable compromise, Your Grace." He smiled and gave her rear another smack, this time far more playfully. "Now, with your permission, I wish to put another smile on your face." He rolled her onto her back and held her in his arms, kissing her.

“Granted.”