Archive of Our Own ^beta

Summary: Captain Becky and Bearded Boimler discuss recent events. Set after s5e1

The brig was once a familiar place for Captain Becky Freeman- in her younger, wilder days, at least. On the Cerritos, she was much more familiar with the other side of the barrier. She considered those formative brig experiences essential to her eventual success. Which was why she subjected her (admittedly) subjugated crew to them so very often.

No one had come by, aside from a trembling ensign who asked what she wanted for dinner and replicated it before shoving it into the food door and wordlessly scampering away. Her crew was definitely not her friends.

They couldn't be. Becky saw what happened to lax captains that let their crews get soft. They got demoted, relegated to distant janky starbase duty (Mom) or worst of all, got people killed.

There had been too much of that in the Dominion war. Too much trauma that she actually eventually got to process in a healthy way (instead of the alternate Cerritos "Mariner", who had apparently drowned her sorrows in contraband liquor, insubordinate fuck-ups and more trysts than she could remember. She related as much to Becky over lunch).

Aside from the fact that the woman who's sat across from her in the mess hall was quite literally her double, knowing herself made it easy to read her. Mariner had only just begun to touch the nightmares. When she got past them, she would be every bit as capable as Becky. But at the moment, she was in a delightful little life space where she wasn't toiling away in Jefferies' tubes as an ensign, but not under the tremendous pressure of being in leadership. Trite as it was, Becky wanted that life. She wanted that freedom without throwing away her career and facing the social repercussions in her own universe. 'Fuck it, that will be Mariner's choice and path', she'd thought as she devised the plan to swap with her counterpart. Hell, Mariner even had a Boimler, even though he was weirdly baby-faced. She knew there was potential in that connection.

She and Boims were not always the bosses buddies they were now. Hell, for the entire first year she knew him as only a brown-nosing little sewer rat. It was only after their first away mission together where he failed to narc on her to her mother that she realized he might actually be worth befriending. It was after that mission that she finally started counseling and healed many open wounds in her psyche. From there, she was abruptly promotable and obtained extra pips on her collar in what felt like no time at all- and Boimler was right there along side her, both as a friend and a competitor. The only friend she allowed herself on her rise to the top.

When she thought Barb was a little too into him, he'd readily agreed to a head to toe body scan that quickly revealed that there was a parasite in his brain causing the wild feelings in the beauty from the USS Vancouver. When a disappointed Barbara slunk back to her ship, Becky jumped in.

"It's been a long time since I took a lover," he'd partially warned, partially joked, the first time they'd come together.

"Shut up before I change my mind," she'd countered.

"And what do I lose if you do?" Brad had waggled his eyebrows at her in a way that totally broke the moment and made her genuinely belly-laugh. Then he tackled her onto the oversized seashell-shaped bed (Captain's yacht privileges came with being the daughter of said Captain!) and she'd forgotten all about it.

From that day, they somehow agreed without speaking to just not label it or put it out there for others to dissect. The prospect of losing her only friend if they went their separate ways intimately was more than a little terrifying, but he was also the only person she really trusted out of the other Lower Deckers. As they rose through the ranks, there was gossip about their closeness, and of course he was the first person she appointed to her bridge crew when she was made Captain. Of course, her mom figured it out- and gave her some parting advice the day she left the Cerritos.

"You know, your father and I kept our relationship under the radar for almost 10 years. When you came along, that was the main reason we pulled the wool up. It was better to have the crew think that the captain of one ship and first officer of another had been unusually close around this whole time rather than think I got pregnant at Risa from some random tourist. But if you care about this man, and you certainly seem to, keep that close to your chest, don't let others spoil what you can enjoy." Carol had leaned in extra close. "He looks at you like you set the moon. That man might be good for your career, but he's also good for you." Straightening, she'd pulled back. "Career or no career, you're my daughter. I'm proud of you, Becky." A hug, and she was gone.

And everything was going along fine afterwards, in her first six months as Captain, until that group of weirdos had popped out of the fissure and distrupted everything she'd built. Threw her back into that sad little ensign watching her friends names on the PADD instant messaging slowly turn gray from lack of contact. Stuck in a brig.

Not even a visit from her partner.

Maybe he didn't think he could risk it, being associated with a disgraced captain. Aside from their very professional interactions, they'd maintained the details of their personal relationship under perfect cover. They could no sooner assume she was banging Boims any more than they could link Janeway and Chakotay.

The door slid open and her heart jumped and then abruptly sank as she saw it was just some lowly two-pip engineer she didn't even recognize. Not that she made a habit of knowing the warp-wrenchers below deck unless they made themselves a problem.

"So, come here often?"

"Just because I won't be in Starfleet much longer doesn't mean I have to take lip from you... Lieutenant...Lieutenant."

"You don't even know my name!" the blond man said indignantly.

"If I needed to know the name of every crew member below me, we wouldn't wear our ranks on our neck, would we?"

"So you really think you're getting kicked out of Starfleet?" he asked, after a beat.

"I do know I'm sure as hell not discussing this with some random Engin-"

Her voice died abruptly in her throat as the image before her shimmered and vanished, replaced by the face of her best friend, closest confidant, and the many other layers he'd taken in her life.

"Boims! How the hell did you sneak Orion cloaking contraband onto my ship?"

"I didn't, I seized it from that Angosian ensign- Koryan, I think? He got it on leave from a trader frigate. Kept it in my desk waiting for an appropriate use- I think this does nicely." He sidled up close to the barrier between them and said more softly, "I put the cameras in here on an auto-loop for thirty minutes, and locked the door. We have privacy."

"Oh, is the brig your fantasy location number four? We could have just used a holodeck for that, darling." Despite herself, she cracked a smile.

"And risk being caught by reserving holodecks at the same time slot? Please, that's amateur hour." He swiftly turned off the glowing barrier between them and took her into his arms. His beard brushed against her cheek and tickled it. She squinted her eyes, turning, and the harsh brig lighting let a subtle cast of red shine through the coarse hair.

"You're due for a dye job," she teased.

"Maybe I'll let it grow out when we get back to Earth. Who the hell wants to look at a purple-haired raisin farmer?" He stroked her cheek and used the motion to bring her eyes to meet his. They were serious, and soft.

"I won't let you throw away your career for my selfishness," she snapped, pulling away. His arms fell limply to his sides as she knotted hers together in front of her chest. "In case you've forgotten, I literally tried to abandon you for a different universe like, an hour ago."

He shrugged and waved at the air as though she'd eaten the last of his leftovers from shore leave, not actively lied to and betrayed him. "You were still leaving me a Becky. I'm sure I would have one, immediately noticed she wasn't you, and two, grown to love her despite her flaws, much as I have Becky Prime. Though, going by Mariner- kinda cringe, to be honest." He reached for her hand, tangling their fingers together, and she let him pull it away from her chest. "I think we'd still put "Beckett and Bradward" on the invitations."

"You're insane," she sighed. "And what am I supposed to do, be a raisin farmer?" She decided to not touch his subtle marriage proposal with a ten-foot pole at this point; they had more pressing matters at hand.

"I don't actually care where we are or what we're doing as long as you have my back and I have yours. In every universe, that's what we are to each other. I'm not letting this one be an exception." He raised her palm to his lips and pressed them against it: it was a strangely comforting gesture.

"Well, unfortunately, in this universe, we are going to figure something else out besides Starfleet careers, together." She blew out the breath she'd been holding.

"Together," he said solemnly.

"I don't deserve you," she intoned, a bit brokenly.

"No one deserves anybody, but you're stuck with me. I'm your cha'DIch." They both smiled at one of their oldest shared jokes. She took a step back, and Bradward re-activated his cloaking hologram before putting the barrier back in place, shutting her back into her cell. He slipped from the room with a wink.

While she had a trial to await and an uncertain future, Becky knew she at least had one person in her corner- the same man she'd had all along. Her one and only Bradward.