disclaimer: BABYLON 5, Ivanova, Talia, and all characters and situations thereof, are all rights and © J. Michael Straczynski and Babylonian Productions. This is a not-for-profit effort for the purpose of fan-to-fan appreciation of some wonderful characters.

written for Mindwalkers, Valentine's challenge, 2001. the criteria: roses, pak' ma ra, and teddy(bear). ;) not yet beta read. enjoy. :)

Talia sat among the roses and tried to write something down. Stylus to pad...tap lip....stylus to pad....hand to chin....no, even with the inspiring scent of roses she could not think of one romantic verse to write down.

She sighed and gazed about the geometrically sectioned pattern of the Garden her stone bench was aligned with and noted that the verrrry slowly rotating surface of the space station interior above had not changed significantly since her sitting down.

Now that was a long sentence, she thought to herself wryly, and returned her attention to the blank pad once again. She heaved yet another heavily scented, rose-imbued sigh. Ah, no words at all were coming to her telepathic mind. And she did so like to write.

Perhaps poetry would not be the gift to give Susan on the occasion of Valentine's, thought the telepath, although she strongly felt that something she wrote herself would be especially nice to share with her new found love.

Especially a very erotic poem, she smiled rather lasciviously to herself and bit the tip of her tongue in naughty self-appreciation.

Talia placed the stylus point to the pad once again, then heard the slow, clumsy shuffle of a rather large body move through the precisely cut green grass behind her.

"ErmErm hrmmm," demurely coffed a large deep toned somebody.

Talia peered over the tall rose stems behind her bench and witnessed a rather large Pak' ma ra clear his sizable throat once again and pinpoint his small eyes upon the rotating sky. In clear, solemn tones, he enuciated:

"Had thee a cat, had thee a hat,

and all that you were, were all that you had,

I'd love you no less, my sweet battle ax,

I'd love you no less, were your hat on the cat."

Talia clapped a gloved hand to her mouth, as the Pak' ma ra took another breath to practice a second verse. Perhaps her translator was malfunctioning, or perhaps both their translation units were malfunctioning.

"ER hrmhrm hrmmm," rumbled the Pak' ma ra thoughtfully as he solemnly removed a pad from beneath his clothing and carefully wrote upon its surface.

Talia sank back from her wall of rose blooms to lie upon her bench and sigh in resignation to herself once more. Even the Pak' ma ra was having better luck at love poetry.

"NO! Out of the question!!" bellowed Sheridan, several thousand yards away in the game field section of the Garden.

"But--why not? You wanted something to give Delenn for Valentine's, and I figure--" Garibaldi attempted, gesturing with the stuffed teddy bear in his hands. He had invested a few personal credits into the Babylon 5 merchandise store--Sheridan's endorsement of the collectible toy could insure success of the franchise.

"Look, it's soft, it's furry, it's cute--"

"I DON'T, like, CUTE," Sheridan slowly and plainly growled back.

"And chicks really dig--oh, hey--" Garibaldi gestured helplessly with his now empty hands as Sheridan took the stuffed bear and mashed its soft body into a ball launcher.

With resignation to a station captain's willful ways, Garibaldi saluted a solemn farewell as Sheridan shot the teddy bear across the light gravity interior of the Garden Sector.....

The Pak' ma ra raised a large silky cloth to his dangling nasal membranes and delicately cleared his air passages.

"FFooh fooooooooh," he blew discretely.

Talia slipped as silently as a rabbit from her bench and tiptoed away on her patch of green garden. The Pak' ma ra was getting quite a bit of verse down and she was not able to think of a thing.

She hopped down an incline and hurried to another bench surrounded by beautiful rose blooms. Unbeknownst above her, sailed a tiny, soft-bodied object that immediately smacked into the back of her head.

"Olp--" was all the sound Talia made as the grass met her face.

Ivanova strolled purposefully through the cultured patterns of the rose garden, wondering where her lover could be, when she spotted an object out of place among the rose buds and thorny long stems.

She reached out and plucked the soft object from its incongruous resting place in the rose bush and regarded it with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh," she muttered. "Cute."

She tucked the teddy bear into the crook of her arm and then smiled, spotting the seated figure of her lover on the grassy expanse, intent on scribbling something.

"Hey there beautiful," she called in a voice rich with warmth and love. The telepath glanced up from her work, fair hair uncharacteristically mussed and falling into her face.

"Now how did you get that?" Susan declared, voice changing with a frown as she bent to thumb the apparent grass stain smudging her lover's forehead.

"Oh, how cute!" Talia answered instead, pulling the soft bear from Susan's arm. She touched the button eyes and soft nose in loving delight.

"You are so sweet," Talia intoned, and pulled the commander down for a kiss.

"Mmm mm," was all Susan could say when the enthusiastic, sensual contact was ended. She decided not to explain how she found the lost bear. Instead, she nibbled Talia's chin.

"I wrote you something," Talia breathed.

"Did you?" Susan exclaimed and broke off her attention to the telepath's chin. "Is that what you were busy writing?"

"Mmhm," Talia affirmed, raising the pad to her critical eye. She tucked the bear more securely under her arm and blew the loose hair from her face. "Something hit me on the head and then I had to write all this stuff down."

"Well let's hear it," Ivanova encouraged.

Talia pushed Susan back upon the grass and placed part of her weight upon her, the bear smooshed between them. In the distance, they heard the abrupt, cannon shot sneeze of a Pak' ma ra's vibrating nasal passages.

Talia regarded her pad once more then looked down at the commander.

"Are you properly positioned to hear my poem?" Talia inquired quite seriously.

"I most certainly am," Susan answered, stifling a laugh that threatened to rock the telepath and smooshed bear between them.

"Good," Talia returned with a grin. "Because this poem requires certain positions."

Placing a thigh strategically between the inner thighs of the commander, Talia solemnly began to recite the first lines of her poem.

"FFOOH FFOOOoooh," the Pak'ma ra blew delicately into his nose cloth.

And if you are wondering why the Pak'ma ra so conveniently interrupted this narrative, that is because the poem Talia wrote is for their ears only. ;)

the end.

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