Part II of III in my Jonathan & Emory series. Holy shit, it's long (6.3k words).
Originally published Feb 4, 2020.
"Porthos. Quit stirring, buddy. You'll wake Em."
Emory wasn't asleep, but she was happy to pretend to be asleep. The two were lying in Jon's bed, peaceful as ever. She had thought that Jon was the one who was asleep, so she'd just been lying there for a few minutes, watching the stars as they went by at warp. In her opinion, the captain's quarters had the best view, and it was amazing to watch stars in. Or watch movies in. Or cuddle in.
"I'm awake, Jon. He's not bothering me." Emory rolled to her other side to face her fiancee, giving a little smile. "Was last night even real?"
"It was, Em."
"Well, it was amazing. I love you."
"I love you, too."
Emory gave a little smile and leaned in for a kiss, wrapping her arms around her new fiancee's neck. Last night, in her opinion, had been a dream. When she pulled back, she looked at her ring, thinking of how the previous night's events had played out like a fairytale.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
It had started with another date, just like the first one. They were on the bridge, watching the stars. Jonathan and Emory had been together for four years, so, of course, the secret was out. There were not many places to hide on a starship the size of Enterprise, so it had gotten out in the first month or so. Honestly, both of them were surprised that the secret lasted a whole month. The crew had been nothing but supportive (except for T'Pol, who felt that Captain Archer shouldn't be dating any of his officers since he was their superior) and began to notice Emory a little bit more. She wasn't exactly a fan of that, but it had helped her make some new friends. She was now an honorary member of the senior staff... and still Trip's best engineer and "little sister."
Eventually, everything had died down, especially when things about Trip and T'Pol went around. While people did remember the alternate Enterprise had a girl named Alana Archer on it as the first officer, they were more interested in Lorian, the ship's captain. Emory was able to get her revenge on Trip, teasing him about his relationship with T'Pol. In reality, she was thankful, since it directed less attention to her and Jon.
"It's just like our first date," Emory gave a little chuckle and looked up at Jon. He was in the captain's chair, and she was sitting on the ground to the left with Porthos. "Except we weren't this cozy then. And Porthos wasn't here."
"Are you complaining? I'm not," Jon gave a little smile and looked down at Emory. He planned to do it tonight; there was no real interstellar drama and he knew he loved her, so when would be better? They'd been practically inseparable since they got together, and it wasn't uncommon for them to both sleep in his quarters.
The brunette gave a laugh, "No, no! I'm definitely not complaining. I love being here with you... and especially Porthos."
"I'm starting to wonder if you're just with me for Porthos," Jon teased.
Emory gave a wink and wrapped her arms around the dog, giving a little smile and looking up at him. "I think he's mine now."
"No way," Archer gave a little smile and sat down on the other side of Porthos, "You take command. I'll take my dog."
Emory gave a little laugh and sat back in the captain's chair, leaning to the left and crossing her legs. She'd adopted her own captain's pose. "Captain Emory Evans sounds crazy... I'd honestly rather stick to engineering. All these years, and I still don't know how you manage to do it every day. You're always off getting injured."
