Puppy Love

Posted on Mon Jun 22nd, 2026 @ 11:51pm by Corey Valleroy & Ensign Henry Taylor & Tessa di'Orion

Mission: Valentine's Day
Location: Mess Hall
Timeline: February 13th

"It's a Terran Holiday," Henry said. "It's a time when we make sure we do something special for the one we love."

Tessa was standing in front of him and gave him an incomprehensible look, "But we do that every night! Why would there need to be a special day to celebrate something like that?

Henry smiled. "Well, sometimes we get busy and we get wrapped up in things and don't realize that we've let some time go by. It makes us remember to stop and do something special."

She shook her head as she looked away, "That doesn't make any sense... But I'll take your word for it. You humans have some very strange traditions."

Henry followed her gaze out the window at the stars, but caught her smirk in the reflection. "You say that so often, but you seem to love every one of them."

"Not all of them, but most of them have some merit." Tessa admitted, "Especially the ones that have some sort of special food involved! It's usually delicious!"

Just then someone came up next to them. "Hey Tessa," came a somewhat higher-pitched male voice, which turned out to be coming from Corey Valleroy, who was trying to do some sort of dual eyebrow wiggle at Tessa. "Oh, and uh, hi, Nurse Taylor," he added, almost as if the acknowledgement was some sort of afterthought. Turning his attention back to Tessa, Corey said (trying to sound casual), "Nice evening, isn't it?"

Tessa's smile never faded as she turned her head to look at the young man that had approached and she had to think for just a moment as to who it was, then it hit her. She'd been seeing him around the ship here and there, one of Lord Valleroy's nephews, was it? "It is a rather nice evening, Corey, we were just talking about food! Delicious food, no less!"

Henry raised an eyebrow at Corey's greeting but gave a nod. "Hello, Corey. What brings you by?"

"Delicious food, interestingly enough," Corey said. "Michelle's got some real non-replicated sweets stashed away behind the bar that us kids aren't supposed to know about, at least according to the adults. Then I saw Tessa, and decided to see if she was, I don't know, doing anything tomorrow?"

"Actually--" Henry tried to say before Tessa lit up.

The knowledge that there were treats hidden by Michelle gave Tessa a quest she just HAD to undertake, "Nope, not doing anything tomorrow!" She looked to Henry, "Isn't that right Henry? It's all right?"

Henry frowned. "Tessa," he said, quietly, "tomorrow's Valentine's Day."

Her eyes flicked back and forth between Henry and Corey, her mind clearly switching tracks as she processed everything. In the end, as Henry watched, he could see the realization go through her head. Then she turned to Corey and inclined her head, “Would you trouble me to give me a minute, milord?” She said in a rather formal manner.

"Of course," Corey replied with a wink.

She gave the young man a smile, then grabbed Henry and took a couple steps away and turned herself away from Corey so he couldn’t hear her whisper.

“Henry, I know that tomorrow is special for you, it is for me as well because of that, but to me, you make *every* day feel like Valentine’s Day. He’s just a kid, he’s no threat to you about me, I am yours, you are mine. But look at the courage he has just to approach and to ask; that is noble in its own right and should be encouraged, if not rewarded. This would mean ever so much to him, to his confidence.” Her eyes pleaded with him to understand, “Not to mention mine? I have always been a Baroness-to-be, destined for alliance-pairings, then you came along. If you say no, then the answer is no. But I hope you say yes, for his sake.”

Henry looked past her, towards the young hopeful who wasn't even acknowledging Henry's existence, but rather staring at Tessa. He thought about what he was like at that age, and, if he were honest with himself, he didn't have that much courage. Still, what were Corey's expectations here? There were a lot of questions he had about the situation, and he wanted to argue with Tessa, but he couldn't bring himself to. He wasn't happy, but it wasn't a hill he felt he should die on.

"All right," he said, quietly sounding resigned. He supposed he'd have to find something to do after their shift after all.

In her excitement, she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek, then she settled down again and turned back to Corey with a smile, “Thank you, milord.” She performed a rather dainty curtsy with a deeper inclination of her head, “I would be honored to join you tomorrow. What time would be convenient for you?”

"Please, it's just Corey," Corey replied with a grin, flushing a bit and having some other feelings he couldn't really readily identify over the "milord" reference. "I'm hardly any sort of lord. I know you're working shifts in sickbay now, so how about a couple of hours after your shift ends? It could give you time to...get ready."

The fact that barely-a-teenager was having similar reactions to Tessa's formality as Henry did probably would have amused him if he weren't already feeling his mood drop. He turned his back so the kid wouldn't see him roll his eyes.

"I could probably get out a bit early," Tessa bounced on the balls of her feet, on the same level as Corey in height, eyes excited, "Lady Kellerman was telling me she has plans for tomorrow, so I'm sure that she would let me out early as well. Do you know what you'd like to do? Just so I know what to wear and all."

Henry couldn't help but smile at Tessa's automatic enthusiasm, but he wasn't sure he had the patience or the strength of character to acknowledge the irony without sounding snarky, so he turned back to her and gave her temple a kiss. "I've got to run some errands. I'll see you later." He gave her hand a brief squeeze and left her to Corey's attention.

Corey didn't quite know what to think of the kiss - where did that come from?! But he looked at Tessa and said, "Something comfortable that you can move around in. It doesn't have to be fancy or anything like that. Uncle Mark thinks that a person has to be dressed up for formal stuff, but I don't really buy a lot into that for most stuff. I just wanna show you some things that human teenagers like to do together that you might not have seen back on your homeworld."

“Given the differences between my homeworld and everything I’ve seen since? I can only imagine just how different they’ll be.” Tessa grinned, “After all, there were no screens on my world, except in certain places underground or in space, but most of my people didn’t get to see them, I was one of the lucky ones. And they’re primitive in comparison.” She grabbed his hands in hers, “But this should be exciting! I’ll see you at umm…” Her brain went into calculations in overdrive, “I should be able to be out and ready by noonish? Where would you like to meet up at?”

"That sounds like a good time," Corey said. "How about meeting up just outside the mess hall? It would be a good place to start."

"Sounds like you've got a plan in mind already!" Tessa said jubilantly, "I'll be there on time, waiting for you!" She squeezed his hands once more, the strength in her hands surprisingly strong.

"Definitely!" Corey said, a goofy grin on his face.