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ussarchangel · 6 years

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The Adoration of Michael

Star Trek Discovery modern AU

Modern AU: Michael Burnham is used to taking care of herself, but when a handsome stranger rescues her from a heckler at a lecture it may be the start of a new chapter in her life.

Chapter 4: Date the 1st, 2nd Half

rating: Mature

characters/pairings: Michael Burnham, Gabriel Lorca, Michael Burnham/Gabriel Lorca

chapter summary:Date, the first

warnings: swearing

Michel laughed and surveyed the the people waiting for the Doane Observatory telescope. There were still a few people ahead of them in the loosely scattered line.

"That was pretty funny." She said touching his arm. "Tell another."

"Let me think a moment."

After finishing dinner the pair had walked the short distance from the planetarium's main building to Doane Observatory sitting right at the water's edge. A crowd of loosely scattered people lingered in the observatory waiting to use the telescope. The staff, a few younger people in blue t-shirts and polos, moved about explaining the telescope and what they could expect to see tonight.

The Doane Observatory housed the largest and most accurate aperture telescope open to the public in the midwest. The building was a small circle, built around a telescope, the floor covered with cheap gray carpet and the walls a dull beige. Photos of various outer space phenomena like the Horsehead Nebula and the Whirlpool Galaxy and the Leo triplets decorated the walls. At the center of the building was a big white telescope.

"Alright, I've got another one for you." The amusement in his face was clear and Michael, already amused, smiled in anticipation.

"So this actually happened to me."

"We had just got sent to bed about an hour ago. I'm wide awake and staring at ceiling cause it's still first phase I'm afraid to move from the position of attention-"

"-Wait you were at attention in bed?" Michael could barely keep from laughing as she tried to imagine a younger, scared Gabriel in his bed at attention.

"Yes I was, I had heard a lot about how TI's especially liked to pick on officers in basic."

"Okay."

"So I hear the Drill Instructor hatch open and I look over -and there's not a lotta light, just the light from the hall- and all I see is his pointy cover stick out of the door, about a foot off the ground. The TI is low crawling on the floor, straight for me, like some kinda big, angry, bald spider, skittering across the floor."

"Oh my god." Michael pressed her fingertips to her lips to hold back laughter.

"So I'm looking around now to see if anyone else is reacting to this, they aren't. So he comes straight to me and I'm staring at the ceiling again, my rack starts to sink from his weight. He gets right up in my face whispers in my ear:

'Hey Lorca, wake up.'

-"And I just look at him, cause he knew I was awake right?'-

"Y-yes sir?"

"Fuck you Lorca. Goodnight bitch."

She started laughing on the word "bitch" unable to hold it in any longer.

"So I say the only thing I can: "Aye sir. Good night sir"

He then climbed down and low crawled back to this room and slammed the door.

Michael let out another peal of laughter and Gabriel's laugh, a warm rich chuckle, joined hers.

"God, were they just ridiculous on purpose?"

"Actually, yeah, a TI told me that once, after I'd been a captain for a few years. They want trainees to believe they'll do just about anything so they just pull the most ridiculous pranks and trust me, you believe."

His expression was so emphatic that Michael found herself laughing again. He smiled indulgently, eyes crinkling at the corners in the most charming way.

"I'm just glad my suffering amuses you."

"It did, but any more and it will ruin my eye makeup."

"For the sake of your eye make-up then, no more stories."

"Thank you."

The person who'd been using the telescope climbed down the ladder and a tall, light-skinned young woman, wearing a staff t-shirt, and short dark hair climbed up the ladder.

Conversation fell silent as she started speaking.

"Hi everyone my name is Christine. Tonight, stargazers, you're in for a real treat. Earth is in a perfect position to see Saturn, its rings and moons close and clear. In addition to the full moon there is also a comet passing through Saturn's orbit. Like most comets, the tail of this one is made of rock and ice, however this particular rock is an usual shade of red casting a an orange glow on the gas giant so we're getting quite a show. The comet itself has moved out of range of the scope, but you can still see the effect of it passing through Saturn's orbit."

The young woman climbed down and let the next viewer go up.

"You know, it really seems like you loved it, why did you leave it?"

Gabriel stroked his beard while considering his answer and Michael's eyes followed the movement.

Perhaps it was because her father had often had a beard, but well-groomed facial hair on a man always appealed to her. It made a man look like, well,a Man, grown, mature, adult, at least to her. Gabriel's was trim, tidy, well cared for, nice and full. She found herself wondering if it was soft.

"The navy may have been my life for twenty years - a lot of folks thought I should stay with it until retirement age - but I suddenly wanted to join the landlubbers."

He met her eyes then.

"When I was a kid, I was excited about the travel, the ships, the camaraderie, but I lost that somewhere along the way," he shrugged. "Since I didn't have to stay, I decided to get out do something else with my life."

"Like photography?"

He nodded.

"That, work in the civilian sector, live someplace for more than a year. Do what I want? Sleep in?"

"Do you, do what you want?"

"Ha, I still get up at five in the morning, take Buran out for a run, jog."

"I love running, it's a great way to keep fit, start the day off right. It certainly looks like it pays off."

It did. He may have been out of the service for nearly a year now, but he was still lean and fit. Michael could see that even in his white linen suit. His shoulders were nice and broad, waist tapered. He looked good, the blue button-down he wore under his jacket bringing out the clear blue of his eyes.

Gabriel smiled, eyebrows arching, clearly surprised and pleased at the compliment.

"Well thank you."

"You're welcome, you should come running with us one morning."

"Us?"

"Naval buddy Hugh and Buran."

"Sure, might be fun." Michael liked to go for her runs by herself, it helped her to think and feel focused. Still, she might enjoy Gabriel's company some mornings.

Just then, the person at the main scope finished, and it was their turn to view the night's main event.

The landing for the telescope was just large enough for one person. When the person ahead of them finished Christine motioned for them to take their turn.

"Ladies first," Gabriel insisted.

"Thank you." Michael looked at the other young woman. "Do I need to do anything?"

"Nope, just look through there."

She peered through the telescope and her breath caught. The normally colorless Saturn seemed to glow a bright orange, the light of the comet coloring its many moons, and suffusing the rings with their own glow. It reminded her of one of those atom structure models brought to life in breathtaking fiery 3D.

For a long moment, she just stared at the planet picking out the lines of demarcation in its bands as the red-gold glow of it seeped into her memories.

"It's beautiful," Michael said we she finally looked up from the telescope. How did one ever let forget that the universe held wonders like this?

"I think this has to be the most fun I've ever had on a first date," Michael said.

"The most?"

He grinned and looked away, and Michael wondered if he weren't perhaps blushing a bit.

"I must admit I had some reservations, especially when you showed up looking like such a knock-out."

"Why?"

"Shallow of me, I guess," Gabriel said holding the door for her. "But when you showed up I thought to myself, ‘pretty girls don't want to look at telescopes.’"

They stepped out into the night, exiting onto the far side of the circular building and at the farthest point from the street the planetarium sat on, but just a few feet from the water's edge.

"Should we go out the other side, back towards the planetarium and the street?"

"No," Michael said looking out over Lake Michigan. The surface of the lake was black with night but the moonlight fell upon it like rippling waves of molten silver.

"I have to work tomorrow, but it’s still fairly early. I'm in no rush; it's a beautiful night. Let's take the long way around."

Michael pointed to the concrete path that circled the building and the shallow steps that allowed one to walk down the lake or a small beach just behind the planetarium itself.

"Alright."

They started back towards the cul de sac that the Adler Planetarium sat on, where Michael could eventually summon an Uber and Gabriel, she assumed, would make his way toward the Planetarium’s parking to find his car. It was quiet here, just the two of them and the lake, the grass and a few trees. The Chicago skyline, its bright lights twinkling on skyscrapers, shone in the distance and you could look up and down the lake's shore if you wanted.

"So what do the pretty girls do?" Michael asked.

"Back on the spot."

"I'm curious."

"Well, it turns out the prettiest one I know likes astronomy displays and telescopes."

Michael shook her head in amusement.

"As much as I love Chicago, it seems kind of a shame that the city lights have taken away the natural lights."

"Probably one of the few things I don't like about the city. In the country, at least when I was a boy, summer nights went on forever. No one worried, parents didn't lock the doors. You'd walk into your backyard, and the stars were right there, and the fireflies weren't endangered back then, so there'd be hundreds, maybe thousands of them, so you had the stars on the ground with you, and the stars in the sky."

"You miss it."

The path grew dark here, trees overshadowing the lamps along their route. The narrow walk came to a sudden and abrupt end and Michael let out a yelp, backpedaling right into Gabriel as her feet stepped in cold wet grass.

His hands settled on her hips, slowing her backwards momentum.

"Sorry, it’s grass I think, wet grass. I didn't realize."

"You're alright."

Michael fished her phone out of her purse, but Gabriel was ahead of her. The light of his phone showing the walk ending in wet, muddy grass. Michael snorted in annoyance and the hand on her hip moved into the small of her back as Gabriel turned toward the stairs leading down toward the water's edge and the beach. The light from his phone doing little to dispel the darkness cast by the shadows of the trees obscuring the shorter lamps along the path.

"I suppose we'll go that way."

Michael frowned for her response, letting her annoyance with the situation show in her expression.

"Do you want to go back the other way?"

She considered the idea of doubling back around or the almost direct angled line that would put them right in front of the planetarium.

"No, just a second though." Michael activated her phone wishing she hadn't deleted the flashlight app she'd downloaded. It wasn't enough. The light of their phones disappeared almost completely once they were directly under the trees. It wasn't far, but Michael found herself a little nervous walking where she couldn't see.

She was just about to say something to that effect when her foot came down on something in the dark.

"Shit!"

Her right foot went out from under mid-step and suddenly Michael was fighting to regain her balance and avoid a nasty meeting with the concrete. She grabbed for nearest upright thing, Gabriel, and felt a flood of relief at his arms strong and steady and under hers. For a handful of seconds she held onto him, grateful that she was still upright and intact.

"Thank you."

"Of course, let's get where we can see."

The stairs went all along the water's edge, making a circle around the observatory. They walked a few feet in the direction they had come until they were standing again in the moonlight. Gabriel kept hold of her hand and she did not complain.

Michael was close enough to him to smell the warm, rich scent of his cologne he was wearing and she liked the feeling of his hand around hers, warm, strong, dry and when she looked down at their two hands his was nearly large enough to eclipse her own.

"Let's sit a moment," she said.

"Ok," he smiled.

They sat down on the concrete steps, still warm from soaking up the day's sun. He had to relinquish her hand to sit and when Michael settled next him she found she missed it immediately.

"You don't swear much." Gabriel said and Michael frowned.

"What brought that up?"

"Just an observation - not on your YouTube and not since we met, until just now."

"Not appropriate for an ambassador's daughter and not exactly acceptable with the rest of the nerds so it's just habit," Michael shrugged.

"Did you ever rebel? I'm no ambassador's daughter, but I know something about expected behavior."

Michael shook her head.

"In the beginning I was too busy being grateful and then later too busy proving myself to rebel."

The breeze blowing off the lake picked up then, cool and stiff, tugging her hair forward and leaving an array of coils hanging in her face. Michael used two hands to tuck them back behind her ears, noticing Gabriel's regard as she did so.

"What?" She asked even as an errant coil sprung free to dangle itself directly in her line of sight.

"May I?" He asked, expression one of wonder and curiosity.

He caught the corkscrew curl between his index and forefinger, stretching it a bit to run his thumb along its length before tucking the wayward coil in with her sisters and ghosting his hand along the cloudy mane of her hair before setting it a moment on the nape of her neck

"I take it you've never dated a black woman before."

"None with hair like yours." He replied casually.

And the look of wonder in expression transformed into something more earthy as his hand moved in one long caress across her bare shoulder and up the column of her throat to catch her chin between his thumb and forefinger, his intent plain.

He was going to kiss her and she was going to let him.

Her tongue snaked out across her lower lip in anticipation.

His lips found hers not a moment later, warm and soft, a brush across her own, awakening sensitive nerves, sending a familiar, but long unfelt signal to her brain. She liked it, liked him

And then he was lifting his lips from hers, that first kiss a mere taste, brief and fleeting.

Michael opened her eyes and saw him gazing at her. His eyes dark and heavy-lidded, attention fixed wholly on her. She knew that look.

Her uncertainty swarmed back up to the surface, along with Sylvia's suggestion that she use him to fix her "little problem", but she'd have to tell him about “her little problem”.

He leaned in to kiss her again and Michael pulled back. Not in a cute way like a woman in a romcom who didn't quite yet want to be kissed, but in a hard and almost embarrassingly firm way. Gabriel sat back, obviously confused himself. Feeling acutely embarrassed, Michael stood up and walked away, fingertips pressed to her lips.

She'd only managed a few steps when Gabriel came up behind her.

"Michael." She stopped, but didn't turn, certain she was betraying her inexperience in clear and obvious signals.

"Michael." He tugged her arm turning her towards him. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." She said, not looking at him.

"Did I misread back there?"

"No."

"It's been a long time since I had any complaints about my kissing and, uh, I haven't had any garlic tonight..."

The hint of humor in his voice made her look up.

"Your breath is fine, just a little cinnamon and whiskey."

“Ok."

She could hear the prodding tone in his voice.

"And the kiss," she looked up at him, biting down on her lower lip even as a smile tugged the corners of her mouth upward into a smile.

"The kiss was nice, more than nice."

"So."

"It's our first date." She blurted out her mind coming up with a better explanation for her behavior than 'I just feel like I don't know what the hell I'm doing and I panicked.'

"Ahhh," he started to grin then, smug and self-satisfied. "So it was too nice."

She gave a slow, reluctant nod and Gabriel looked altogether too pleased with himself.

"Why don't we finish our walk?"

Still wearing his pleased smile, Gabriel put his hands in his pockets and they started back toward the planetarium.

"How did you get into photography?" she asked, wanting anything to take her mind from her embarrassment.

"Got into it when I was a kid." His eyebrows arched, betraying a faint hint of surprise. "My parents got divorced when I was ten. I was angry, didn't even really understand how angry I was, and this was a big deal back in the 80's, especially in the South."

They reached the street then and Gabriel, sighting a bench, suggested they have a seat.

"I took it out on the other kids." He said looking away from her. "They were happy, or at least it seemed that way. I was unhappy; the world wasn't fair. They needed to know. I ended up getting suspended from school, which was for the best, ‘cause I met my first mentor, Terry Green. He showed me a better way to express myself. I started with drawing, eventually moved onto photography."

"I'm sorry about your parents."

"It was years ago and no worse than any other family."

They sat in silence for a while. Most of the people had gone, the planetarium was closed and the little cul de sac it sat on was mostly empty.

"When I went to live with my adoptive parents, I was so angry. I didn't realize it at first. Sarek, my adoptive father, got me into meditation and martial arts."

Gabriel faced her, resting one arm on the back of the bench, his body angled towards hers, expression attentive.

"The meditation helped?"

"The martial arts helped."

He smiled at that.

"I could hit people as long as I didn't hit them too hard. It was physical, so I could burn off all that energy, and it required discipline and focus. But it wasn't enough. I think I went in the opposite direction that you did. I threw myself into my studies, into learning and doing well."

"Did it work?"

"I think so. I graduated top of my class in high school, same in college, and got my dream job."

"Dream life?"

"Yeah."

Michael fell silent then, frowning at the turn of her thoughts. Uncomfortable with the sudden idea that the anger of her twelve-year-old self had dictated the last eighteen years of her life and perhaps that twelve-year-old hadn't made the best choices.

"What is it, Michael?" Gabriel shifted position so that he was facing her directly. She could see a mixture of concern and curiosity in his eyes.

She shook her head.

"It's too somber for a date; we've been having fun."

"As you like, but if you want to talk about something I'd be happy to listen."

She looked at him squarely now - his blue eyes, his beard, that congenial smile.

"I-I-" She fell silent, not at all sure she wanted to have an existential crisis about her love life on their first date.

"Here," Gabriel held out his hand two fortune cookies in clear plastic wrappers sat in his outstretched palm.

"Where did those come from?" She asked grateful for the distraction from her somber thoughts.

"My family manufactures them."

"Oh."

She plucked one of the cookies from his palm.

"You go first," she said.

"Alright."

Sometimes you just need to lay on the floor.

They both looked down at the sidewalk before snickering.

"Not today."

Michael opened hers, fumbling a moment with the plastic before the pulling the cookie free. It took a second to split the cookie to produce a puzzling fortune:

Trust is key.

"That's a disappointing fortune." She handed the slip to Gabriel. "Did your family manufacture these? If so, I need to lodge a complaint with the owner."

She could see his lips pursed to hold back laughter.

"What's your complaint, ma'am?"

"Well, that is a very disappointing fortune. I already know the value of trust. I wanted to learn my future from a free cookie."

Michael chuckled, and Gabriel did the same, the pair sharing a brief laugh.

"This really has been the most fun I've had on a first date. I should head. I have to get an early start on my day tomorrow." Michael said fishing her phone out of her purse.

"Of course - I'd be happy to drop you off."

"Thank you, but the Uber drive is just a few minutes away."

Michael sat her phone down on the bench.

"I had a really good time." She said meeting his eyes.

"Good. Is it too soon to ask you out again?" He smiled his most engaging and Michael fought the urge to say yes right away.

"I've been advised that I should play hard to get." Michael in a teasing tone.

"Who's giving you this advice?" Gabriel gave her a look of mock offense. "I don't like this person."

"Awww, my best friend is really sweet."

"I'm not dating your best friend, Michael."

Michael laughed in spite of the sliver of possessive jealousy she felt at the idea.

"You better not be." She said, a hint of harshness creeping into her tone.

It was Gabriel's turn to look amused.

"I thought you were playing hard to get. Where's that poker face you told me about?"

She feigned a moment of shock and schooled her expression into one of complete neutrality.

"Damn, that's pretty good."

"Thank you," she replied, keeping her blank expression.

"So, Saturday?"

Michael kept her blank poker face on and watched uncertainty creep into his expression.

"What would we do?" She asked the question in a monotone.

"Dinner, movie, there's an art festival in Hyde Park this weekend."

"That sounds like it could be fun." She said, still keeping her carefully neutral expression and tone of voice.

"So that's how you're going to play it?"

"Play what?" She asked innocently.

"Ok."

Gabriel stroked his beard a moment before moving closer to her on the bench, his hip and thigh pressing against her own, the contact electrifying. He settled a hand over the hand in her lap. Her poker face cracked, eyes widening as he leaned in close. Then he surprised her by pausing and letting his eyes take a deliberate and leisurely tour of her face before dropping them to give her an up-down.

When he met her eyes again they were dark with naked desire and adoration that sent pulse of arousal went all through Michael and she let that magnetic pull draw her toward him. It was the end of their date after all.

Her eyelids fluttered shut; his lips found hers and the hand in her lap slid round to grasp her hip.

Their kiss at the edge of the lake had been soft, sweet. This one was anything but. There was an instant heat at the touch of his lips. He nipped her lower lip, and she opened her mouth for him, letting his tongue - hot, wet and velvet - slip into her mouth.

Taking her opportunity, Michael reached up to stroke his beard and found it soft to the touch as he closed a hand in her soft fluffy hair.

His kiss felt so damned good. The sensitive nerve endings in her lips stirred to greedy wakefulness while his tongue hot and soft stroked her own.

Her phone buzzed then.

The Uber driver. Michael found herself tempted to send them away and sit right there doing what she was doing. It was Gabriel who broke the kiss. For a long moment, she stared into blue eyes darkened with lust.

"Your ride?" He asked voice low and gravelly.

"Yeah."

"Saturday?"

"Mhmm."

Gabriel captured her hand before she could pull it away and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm, blue eyes locked on hers the entire time. A pulse of pleasure went all through Michael's pelvis and his kiss left a tingling spot on her palm.

He stood, pulling her up with him.

She had just enough presence of mind to grab her phone before he walked her to her cab.

#USS ArchAngels #Star Trek Discovery #Lorcham #Michael Burnham x Gabriel Lorca #Michael Burnham #Captain Gabriel Lorca #Gabriel Lorca

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