Sharing Common Interests - Part II

Posted on Fri Apr 4th, 2025 @ 8:10pm by Commander Vincent 'Vin' Salvatore & Lieutenant JG Gianna De Luca

1,034 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: Chief Counselors Office
Timeline: After: Salvatore's Soiree

Continuing from Part I

ON:

Vincent let out a laughed as she did. The thought of his sister with a potential suiter would send him and Carlo into a bit of a frenzy. He could remember the time they learned about one and took it upon themselves to make sure he knew how much she meant to them. "It must be an older sibling thing. Carlo and I were the same when it came to Valentina. When we heard she was on a date with one, we did everything we could to track them down and watch out for her. We once sat through a whole sappy movie just to make sure he didn't put the moves on her. When he did, Carlo and I, would throw something at his head. As soon as they turned around, we ducked behind the seats, giggling to ourselves. When Valentine found out... she was not pleased."

"Now that I understand," she admitted with another nod and a smile, making a mental note to add this positive interaction with Vin in his file at a later stage, "We know you all mean well and have our best interests at heart, but it can be extremely frustrating, I'll admit that much. How did you respond to her displeasure at you and your brothers’ antics?"

Vincent paused for a moment, smirking a bit, before he replied. "About the same as usual, I guess. I stood there and let her get it all out. She was mainly focusing on my brother because it was his idea. After the back and forth with them, her and I spoke to each other. It was a much calmer discussion. It usually was when it was just me and her. I get it, you know. She was trying to do her own thing. Hanging out with someone she liked. Creating her own space, but at the same time, she's still my sister. I will always want to make sure, whoever she ends up with, treats her the way she should be treated and not like some... you know... a conquest. A notch on their belt. Sure, in some ways, there were far better ways we could have gone through with it, but we were kids. Considering consequences wasn't exactly a bullet point for us." He smirked slightly. "I'm pretty sure, as you got older, your brothers probably pulled back enough to let you know they wanted to give you space but still wanted to show you that they were protecting you."

"I can assure you that if I was still back near them and even though I would be living by myself, they would still be trying to run things for me," Gia said with a matter-of-fact tone as she took another biscuit, a snickerdoodle, and taking a bite. She didn't know Vin well enough to divulge more information than necessary about her family, "I feel like you and I will be able to have some solid talks about our family dynamics and how it impacts our lives."

Then she realized, "I'm sorry, I just realised that I didn't offer you a drink or anything. My apologies. Would you like a coffee or something to go with these amazing biscuits?"

"Coffee would be great. Thank you. Cream with two sugars if possible." Vincent replied with a smile. He looked down for a moment, a bit in thought, before returning his gaze to her. "Those will probably be some interesting conversations, Gia." He let out a slight chuckle as he watched her get up and go for the coffee. As she did, he spoke again. "I obviously can't speak for your brothers, but I can speak in terms of a brother watching out for his sister. In a way, I can see how it feels controlling. I think, and this is just me, that it was more about making sure you weren't going to get your heart broken or disappointed. It might have been a tough kind of love, but it was the kind of love you won’t ever regret having. I'm not, in anyway, defending how they did it. Just the feeling behind it. When it comes to people you love... the right direction... isn't always clear. Just because it wasn't the best way, doesn't mean the love wasn't there. You know?"

"Don't get me wrong," Gia said as she fixed them both a coffee. She didn't know about him, but this was already her third one for the day and it was still early. Walking back over, she placed Vin's coffee in front of him, "There you go, cream with two sugars as requested, I hope it's to your standards."
Taking a seat again, she continued, "Love is a driving factor for a lot of events that occur, but sometimes it just comes from the wrong place. I'll admit now that there was one time I was extremely grateful for my brothers intervening because it turned out my date had a, how do you put it, penchant for murder. Women, to be exact." Her slight laugh was strained at the memory.

The taste of the coffee, as well as whether it was to his standards, was an afterthought compared to what she just revealed. His eyes widened as he pulled the coffee away from his lips and placed it on the table by the container of cookies. "The hell..." He raised a brow and looked at her firmly. "Are you alright? How did-" Vin stopped mid-sentence before taking a moment to think and calm himself. "We don't have to get into it if you don't want to... I'm just... That's the worst of the worst case scenarios on the reasons why Carlo and I were so overprotective. I mean, there would be no stopping how we would deal with that situation." He reached back down to grab his mug, pulled it back up to his face, then stopped again. Looking to her with a caring look. "I'm so sorry."


To be continued


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Commander Vincent 'Vin' Salvatore
Executive Officer/Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant Gianna De Luca
Chief Counsellor
USS Hecate

 

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