Respite from loneliness

Posted on Tue Jul 28th, 2026 @ 7:47pm by Lieutenant Commander Maximo (Max) Vero & Commodore Charlotte Reyes

2,856 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Season 1, Episode 1: Ashes of Wolf 359
Location: Bologna, Old University area
Timeline: 2 Weeks after the Wolf battle

ON:

Max downed his glass of red wine and stood up ready to go to another place. He was playing a game with himself as to where was similar and what was different. Unfortunately, too much was different and it seemed today his way of dealing with that was to numb the pain with a drink.

In reality he was torturing himself as every street, anything vaguely familiar threw up memories of a time no longer here, friends and family no longer in his life. Everything different didn’t do much better. He just felt more lost.

The old university building still stood. Still two towers. Familiar. The buildings around it not so much. The Archiginnasio familiar. If he imagined it enough, he could see himself in graduation robes excitably walking through for the ceremony.

His father had sung there. Tables set up, wine flowing. Hot summer nights. Candles and lanterns. He could almost see it all.

“Ah papa …..” he said sadly. “cosa penseresti di questo posto adesso? (What would you think of things now?”)

He needed to eat. Soak up the wine so picked the first place he could find but it was busy. They had to place him, on a table with another solo person. A Brunette.

“Apologies signorina (Senorina), I hope I do not disturb your peace,” he said sheepishly.

Charlotte looked at at the strange voice, truth be told she felt a little out of her dept trying to read the Italian writing on the menu. She had thought it would be a nice idea, absorb the culture and do everything traditional instead of depending on technology and replicators; leaving the communicators and PADDs behind her.The part she has underestimated was her high school Spanish being more on the rusty side than she'd have like.

"Um...Si signore. Par favore, prendi un...ahh..." Charlotte's cheeks flushed as she tried to grasp the word, knowing already that she had probably beyond butchered this poor mans language. "..seat." The woman let out a sigh as she gave in and just used the English word; smiling a little as she allowed her eyes to settle on the man's face. "Your welcome to take a seat if I haven't caused you to want to run away screaming of awful American women who know nothing about Italian."

Oddly Max found himself smile for the first time in days. Despite it not fully being the Italy he used to know his sense of pride of his heritage came out as strong as ever. He took the seat and told her,

"Italia, she is an experience. Everyone comes knowing nothing, they leave having lived her. Having loved her. You can find "La Dolce Vita," the sweet life. Do you need help?" he indicated the menu his voice heavy with his Italian accent. When back on Earth it always came out so much stronger.

Charlotte couldn't help feel a surge of relief, nodding her head in acceptance of the offer of help, offering the menu over. "I have to admit; the place didn't seem so big when I last visited on a school excursion when I was in my teens. But truth be told; I dont think I was of an age to be able to appreciate the beauty and history of Italy. I was too busy sharing giddy thoughts with my friends and swooning over Italian men and that distinct lilt to your voices. I don't even remember much of the food we eat."

Max smiled inwardly. He was Italian. A big part of his culture was flirting and she was pretty. Imagining her as a teenager swooning was adorable. "Do you trust me?" he said simply.

Charlotte hesitated as she didn't even know this mans name. Prior to the last few minutes, they had been absolute strangers. But...there was something about him. She couldn't put her finger on it yet but she didn't feel uneasy or fearful in his presence.

Slowly she nodded her head, indicating for him to order. Company was hard to come by lately so why not...they were in a public space and names would surely come soon.

"I will order local dishes for you to taste." He beckoned over a waiter. He didn't break eye contact with her at all. Brown eyes looking at her as if she was the only woman in the world.

"Tagliatelle al ragù, due ciotole di tortellini in brodo, una cotoletta alla bolognese come contorno, una porzione di Squacquerone con pane e una bottiglia di Rosso Bologna, per favore."

Bella Signorina," he placed his hand over hers and briefly squeezed it. "I hope I did not make you swoon. That was a lot of lilt."

Charlotte hesitated a moment before making a decision to leave her hand resting under his. The warmth passed from his hand to hers where they touched; raising her blood pressure slightly more than even his Italian had. Maybe it was the atmosphere, maybe it was Bologna or maybe it really just was this strangers accent; but something made her feel more at ease and light hearted than she had in a very long time.

The woman managed a laugh as her eyes caught those of her dinner partner and held his gaze. "Well I heard you say bottle; assuming you didn't ask for a bottle of cyanide, I'm guessing that was wine? Everything else..." As she paused, "Who am I kidding...you could have ordered a tablecloth for all I understood and I'd have still swooned. Seems there's a part of my sixteen year old self that I never really grew out of."

It was Max's turn to laugh. He released their hands. It was nice not to be alone suddenly. And to play the flirting game. He felt 18 again now.

"Si Vino. Red wine. It will compliment all of the food magnificently. If I am to show such a beautiful woman Bologna, talking of tablecloths would not cut it. That would be beneath your worth and mine. Maximo," he indicated.

"So tell me something", Charlotte ran her fingers through the condensation on her water glass as she folded her free arm across her setting and leaned into the table, smiling at her dinner companion. "Are you going to tell me your name or am I just going to refer to you as Mr Mysterious Italian Guy whose making my every teenage dream reality?"

Max laughed again. "My name. It is Maximo. But if you prefer Mr Mysterious, lets go with that. And you are?"

"Maximo..." Charlotte said the name gently as she was careful with not loosing the syllables with her accent. "Mr Maximo Mysterious...nice to meet you." The woman laughed as she wiped her fingers on her napkin before offering her hand. "I'm Charlotte...I'm not sure what nickname you could give me."

"I will call you Bella as you are," he said simply. "Ahhh eccellente the food is here. They are fast si!"

"Grazie, sembra ottimo," he told the waiter up uncorked the wine and poured it for them. The man nodded and answered in Italian.

He said "Enjoy your meal."

"Start with the soup," he suggested. "Then the cheese you can eat in-between enjoying the soup that way .... both they stay warm, .... actually its ... they call it melty. It can be as you say .... ah non ... cooperative. Let me."

He ripped up some flatbread and expertly after years of eating it scooped up cheese on it and held it out to her mouth."

Charlotte's cheeks had flushed after the Bella compliment. She wasn't used to this...in her career as a Captain she always had to be stoic. Fraternisation was frowned upon because the woman had to be a leader and a mediator. Having hit the career ladder hard, there had never been much time to relax and just enjoy life. Wolf 356 had mad that even harder.

Realising her thoughts were turning to a place she didn't want to go, the woman allowed her eyes to flicker up to her mysterious man, parting her lips as she moved forward to take a bite of the food. The depths of her eyes spoke of exhaustion, pain but enjoyment of this moment was pushing through.

As her mouth exploded with flavour and some of the cheese escaped her lips; Charlotte gave a muffled half moan and half laugh as her fingers moved to capture the cheese.

As her eyes lite with the laughter the food muffled; she chewed her way through before speaking again. "Wow...just wow...the flavour the taste!"

"Exactly ...." he handed her more bread so she could dip in herself this time. "You discover now .... "La dolce vita." He took a spoonful of his own soup, swallowed and said, "So Bella how did you find yourself in Italia all alone?"

Everytime he called her Bella Charlotte found her heart skipped a small beat. Maybe it was the accent or the flirting but she was enjoying this experience more than she would have thought. Her colleagues question though gave her a little start.

Dipping the bread in the cheese, she took the moment to figure out how to answer. Part of her didn't want to go into the truth, she didn't want to bring that pain into this moment of escape. "If I told you it was to escape would you believe me?" Charlotte smiled a little before licking a drop of cheese from her finger before biting into the bread.

Max took a large sip of his wine before saying more seriously, "Si Bella Si," He didn't want to go any further into that either.

"You pick a good place," he forced himself back to smiling. He couldn't escape if he wanted too. Every place, every person, every building, machines, culture, new aliens ... it was all very different. He had to unfortunately face it. But to not be as alone even for a short while was a blessing.

"I know the best place to escape too in Bologna," he said. "We eat and then I take you for gelato and I take you there. The best view of the city. The stars, the moon, the beauty of Italia. Her soul. I help you make a memory to keep for when you have to leave your escape,"

Perhaps if he did decide to leave Starfleet he could make a living doing food and city tours? Or would being constantly be too much memories?

"I've always wanted to see the fountain of neptune..." Charlotte smiled more broadly as she loaded her plate with pasta and meat. She didn't even try to comprehend what they might have been, only that they all looked mouth-watering. "I don't know why but there's always been something about the mythical stories of centuries gone by that have always caught me. Venus, Mars, Apollo...the idea that God's and demi gods existed to rule people and Earth."

"Ah, la statua di Nettuno. Sì, sì, ti ci porto," he said. "I mean yes I take you. You know," he joked, "They modelled him on me," he raised his eyebrows comically and struck a pose chest out, his biceps curled.

"I jest of course, how can one travel through time?" he said the words not even thinking. But he had done that. That suddenly got him wondering. Perhaps there are gods. Was it an intervention in his fate? Maybe they toy with him or he angered them somehow?

"Dii Consentes," he said. "Twelve. Six male, six female. One was even named Vulcan. Who is to say that there species did not come here sooner than we know. Vulcan was fire, metal working and forges. Maybe they came to give us a nudge technology wise back in that time? Or is it all coincidence?

Neptune is your favourite? You feel affinity with the sea?" he loaded his own plate and started eating.

As Charlotte just listening to her dinner companion, she found herself getting lost in the lilt of his accent, the interchange in his words of both Italian and English enamoured him to her as she found herself drawn in further by the romance and ease of the situation.

His comparison of himself to Neptune caused her to laugh as the stress suck away from her body and shoulders.

Twirling her own pasta around her fork, the woman found herself thinking over his analysis and questions. "You know...I never thought of it that way. I mean I guess I've always been a keen swimmer; an easy way to lose yourself in a pool or the sea; nothing exists bar your breath, your stroke and the water around you. Swimming offers a welcome opportunity to escape the stress of life and just...be."

Charlotte laughed as she looked to her companion again, catching his eye as her own reflected the ease she felt with him. "And you...do you affiliate with Neptune because you see yourself as a God like person as well as being built as well as his body is portrayed?"

“No I just like to swim also,” Max told her simply. She had clearly not heard him say “I jest” earlier. He supposed having a beautiful stranger think his body was god like was not a bad thing. He was beginning to feel happier things again. Perhaps that was a good thing? She was certainly fun to talk too although neither really touched deeply on who they were.

A few hours later....

By the time they reached the Neptune statue, neither had any clue as to a last name but he found himself kissing her.

As her head swam abit from both the alcohol and the romance; Charlotte's hand tightened in Max's before she broke the kiss. She had never known herself to be so reckless as to throw herself at a guy before, especially one she barely even knew. But there was something about this moment. The calmness in the air that almost held them in an embrace, the sky above speckled with stars that shine bright away from city lights.

Why not be reckless now. To chase away the memories that haunted her mind everytime she closed her eyes. Why not give herself a moment before duty called her back and she was expected to be a Captain once again; and not just Charlotte.

Her eyes glanced across the fountain, a laugh passing her lips as her hand dropped Max's and began to pull her trousers up to her knees and took her shoes from her feet. The thought running through her mind, reckless but pulling her forward. "Ever done something that might get you into trouble before?"

“Si Bella but it’s been a while,” he said breathlessly. He watched confused for a moment. Was she going in the fountain?

Giving up on the struggle with her trousers, Charlotte climbed up onto the edge of the fountain before stepping into the water. A swear word firstly escaped her lips as the coldness slide over her skin, coming up to her mid calf. After a moment, her eyes captured Max's again, the mischievous sparkling through before she playfully kicked water in his direction. "Come on Mr. Mysterious. You said you liked water and sure, this may as well be your fountain as you like yourself to Neptune."

He had too much wine in him to tell her again he had joked when he said that and just enough in him to risk getting arrested. Well if they still arrested people for entering the fountain during this time, luckily he was in shorts. He took off his sandals and followed suit. “ if the law enforcement come, I no have anyone to bail us out. Bella you are very naughty,” he told her.

Something more flashed across Charlotte eyes before she kicked the water harder this time in her companions direction; laughter vibrating against her lips as the flow of water coming from one of the cherubs managed to catch her head and dampen her hair. "Oh damn...that's cold! Whoever this cherub is knows no manners!"

Moving closer in the fountain to where Max stood, she could help but full take in his appearance properly for the first time. Barefoot with the water reaching lower on his legs than her own, under his T-shirt hinted at muscles that were currently concealed from sight. She still remembered the taste of his lips, how firmly they fit against her own as his experience showed in how quickly she has lost herself in that moment.

Trying to shake herself out of where her mind was going to, Charlotte moved to place her hands in the water and throw water at Max; the laughter slightly dying as his now wet T-shirt showed her what previously she'd only imagined. "Naughty...I don't think you quite know yet the full extent of that Maximo."

Max bit his lip. His t-shirt was suddenly clinging to him freezing. He needed her body heat back. He needed lips back on his. Pulling her back into his arms he surrendered, “Then show me Bella,”

OFF:

RSS Feed