Reversal {Star Trek Enterprise Mirror Universe fan fiction}

Cattails

He found himself on a roof deck, with assorted small tables and chairs. There were brown cattails in vases on the tables. She was sitting at one. He approached, and tried to remain nonchalant. "I guess I'm hopelessly ugly,” he said, swallowing.

"No, no, of course not. Far from it. Please sit down. And, um, it's a little chilly out here,” Lili said.

He willed himself out of his normal sleep attire, and into a pair of blue jeans, black boots and a black watch flannel shirt, to go along with her turquoise hoodie, jeans and sneakers. "Good idea. So, um, was it what I was wearing last night?"

"No." she smiled wanly. "Boxer shorts and a tee shirt are pretty standard sleeping clothes for a guy."

"Then, um, please tell me. What is it? What's so wrong? Let me try to fix it,” he said.

"I – oh, man. Do you not know?"

"Know what?"

She sighed. "I, I don't know how to break this to you."

"Direct is best."

"You're, you're dead."

=/\=

"Oh, get off me, Aidan!" Jennifer snarled.

"I haven't seen you all day. And suddenly you're moved in. Which is, um, great. Very unexpected. So this means we can do it more."

"I gotta think."

"Think later." he commanded.

"Do you even know why I'm here?" she bristled.

"Yes. You can't live without me."

She made a sound and rolled her eyes. "I am here because the old man, well, I got tired of him,” she said, avoiding the truth.

"Of course,” Aidan said.

"And he's whipped enough that I even got him to move my stuff. But this is gonna change things. Gotta figure out what he's up to."

"Worry about him later,” Aidan said, “You. Me. Now."

=/\=

"Dead? Huh? Lemme tell ya, I am not dead. Here, I'll prove it to you." he got up to get closer.

"No, no. Please. It's not that I don't want to. I do. And that's what's so disturbing to me. You're dead, and this cannot be happening. It's all dreams and wish fulfillment anyway, and there's always a catch, and that's the catch." her voice was becoming higher pitched and she was speaking faster as a lump rose in her throat.

"I'm, I'm not, I'm not dead,” he said, “How can I show you that? What, what kind of proof do you have? What's making you think that?"

"I – I saw." she was now really crying, hot tears hitting her face and bouncing off and onto her hoodie.

"Saw what?"

"Your, your body. I saw them put your body in a big tube and shoot it off into space."

"What? When? And I, I don't get it. Not just this but also, you saw me? I never saw you before yesterday."

"You, you don't remember me?"

"I know I never, ever saw you before. I would have known."

"You and I, we would nod in the hallways. We didn't say much. We were not friends. But you could recognize me, I know you could! The Enterprise isn't a huge ship."