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Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home

Posted July 23, 2021, 2:37 p.m. by Civilian Micah Pikelsimer (Federation Security Agent) (James Sinclair)

Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home

Posted by Civilian Micah Pikelsimer (Federation Security Agent) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home

Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snips)

“To family,” Shara said, followed a beat later by Nadine. The two women tipped their glasses together and Shara reached out to tip hers to Micah. Nadine followed suit, but even as they did so, there was an import about the moment, the action.

“Let’s dig in, shall we?” Shara said after letting an appropriate moment pass.

“It looks delicious. Did you really catch the fish yourself, and gather the stuff for the salad?” Nadine asked, momentarily bewildered.

Shara grinned. “You bet I did! When I lived on Tracken Two, we needed all those sorts of skills. We had to be self-sufficient, so as a community we made sure we all pitched in and that everyone was fed and clothed and had whatever they needed to be happy and content. Or as close as we could manage.”

“Tracken… that was the Maquis colony, yeah?” Nadine asked before she inhaled sharply. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure what I should or shouldn’t ask.”

Shara shook her head. “No. We’re going to get nowhere if we dance around things. I told you I’d be as honest as I could and I meant it. So yes, let’s enjoy this lovely meal we all contributed to and go ahead and start to answer the questions you have.”

“I don’t know where to start,” Nadine said.

Shara gazed at Micah for a moment and realized that this would all be new to him too. Good. She didn’t want to have secrets from him that weren’t work related. “Well, how about at the beginning. That seems to be an appropriate place I think.” Nadine nodded. “It’s not a complicated story, just… hard. And do understand I’ve never told anyone this story until Micah here. But on, let me grab something first,” Shara said as she got up from the table. She grabbed a PaDD off the coffee table and wandered back. “Was my trunk there for pickup?” she asked Micah.

~Shara & Nadine

Micah shook his head at her and said “Now do ya think I wouldn’t have told ya if it wasn’t, wife? C’mon… miss the chance to hear you rip somebody a new one? That’s one of my favorite things in the whole world… provided it ain’t me.” and he chuckled and took a bite.

Micah

“You ain’t seen nothing,” Shara said with a gleam in her eyes as she settled back in her seat. “I need to go through it, so after dinner, we can go treasure hunting.”

Shara slid the PaDD to Nadine. “Read it if you wish to, but that’s the basic info I pulled on your father. For the record, he and I haven’t spoken since he found out I was pregnant and we went our separate ways. It wasn’t malicious either. We were sixteen, Nadine, and he wasn’t ready to be a father. I can’t speak for him and his choices, but he likely doesn’t know I went through with the pregnancy. He also wouldn’t know I gave you up for adoption.” She cut off a bit of her fish and watched Nadine pick up the device and begin reading.

“Curtis Allen,” Nadine said softly. “Who was he… to you?”

Shara smiled sadly. “My first serious boyfriend. Met in school. He sat behind me in math class and teased me about being a slacker. He knew better though. My brain loves math. It sees it everywhere and so I was bored in those classes most of the time and so I did other things, other work. But we slipped notes back and forth on a PaDD.” She chuckled. “We made up our own code so if the teacher caught us and read our messages it wouldn’t make sense. Seems I veered towards the covert rather naturally.”

“He’s moved around a bit. A civil engineer,” Nadine said as she skimmed. “Whoa! There it is! Huh.” She looked up at Shara and Micah. “Doctors chuckled at my DNA. I’m quite the mix. I look Human, but my DNA says I have at least one grandparent who is Betazoid and one great-grandparent that is Vulcan. None of that yours, is it?”

Shara shook her head. “Very Human. But yeah, Curtis’ mom was Latina and his dad a Human Betazoid Vulcan mix. I always loved that you had slightly pointed ears but they were’t obvious. Like a little secret.”

Nadine studied her for a long moment, growing serious. Shara knew too much for it to be a simple adoption handover. There was more to it. “So what happened? Why…”

“Why did I give you up?” Casting her gaze away, Shara wanted to hide the pain, but she couldn’t. Not entirely. “Because I couldn’t do it on my own. I tried, Nadine, I really did. For one month you and I lived in this tiny apartment on Alpha Centauri. But I had to work to support us and I couldn’t rely on anyone. Or so I thought at the time. But I couldn’t go home to Midos. They didn’t know I was pregnant. I ran away. My mother had died two years prior and we were all just devastated. And my father who was a bitter man who drank a lot, got worse after she died. Rarely did he go so far as to hit me, but shortly after Curtis decided he could’t be a father, my father and I got into a big fight and he hit me… hard. But I hit back! And that’s when I knew I couldn’t stay. It wasn’t safe me there. Gavin had a better relationship with him than I did and I knew he’d be okay. So I left it all behind and tried to start over. But… I was so overwhelmed and you were so small. I cried for two days straight before I walked over to the adoption agency and asked them to make sure you had a good home.” Shara had became very still, as if even a deep breath was too hard. “I don’t regret that decision, but it broke me for a long while.” An understatement and a piece of her story as of yet untold. So many of them in fact that sometimes it was hard to know what she had and hadn’t told people.

Nadine sat there holding the PaDD, her own tears welling. “I’m so sorry you went through all of that.”

~Shara & Nadine

Micah sat in silence. He hadn’t looked up Nadine’s father, although he probably could have pieced together who he was. But it Sha’s past. And as much as he loved her, he knew digging without permission was a sure-fire way to drive her off. But now that he had a name. But that was task for later.

Micah kept quiet, silently eating his food and watching. His mind wandered to Faye. This was gonna be rough for everyone involved. Maybe he’d give Cochrane a call… a heads up. He was still undecided on that part, though the thought had crossed his mind more than once.

Micah

Shara nodded slowly and ate some of her meal. She looked over at Micah and smiled. “Food’s fabulous. We make a good team.”

“That we do. Shoulda married ya that day I stepped off the transporter padon the Manny. Saved all the runnin’ around.” and winked at her and grinned.

Nadine also was eating, if like Shara they were small bites. No matter how they dressed up the meal, it was difficult and awkward. And amazing. “What happened after. WI assume things got better at some point? I know you got married. Couldn’t find much about that though.”

Shara smiled softly, her face brightening. If Micah had been less of a good man, he might be jealous of the memory of a dead man, but the truth was he’d been right: Edward had helped shape her into the woman who was with Micah now and there was lots of be grateful for there. “Edward Calloway. A quiet and reflective man, who loved poetry and understood how things worked. Their internal workings. He was a natural engineer, but he was also charismatic. The kind of person that was just so goos that you couldn’t hate them. I… wandered a bit after I left Alpha C and ended up on Arkelis. I was working at a bar when he came in tat night with friends. He terrified me. He was so sure of himself and so at ease with the Universe and here I was hiding away hoping no one noticed me too much. But he coaxed me out of my shell and six months after we met we got married. My brother thought I was nuts and refused to come to the wedding.” Shara laughed bitterly. “Ahhh, I never was one to do things the conventional way,” she said, glancing at Micah and winked.

“Understatement of the millenia.” and he smiled and had some wine.

“Anyway, we moved to Tracken because his coworker was going to and it sounded amazing. And so we built a life there.” Shara passed and set down her fork. “In 2358, I gave birth to a daughter we named Faye.” And there she stopped.

Nadine nodded very slowly. “And they both died because of the Dominion, yeah?”

Shara sucked in a breath. “Edward did, but Faye survived, though I wouldn’t find out that information until long after Voyager got back to the Alpha Quadrant.”

The younger woman blinked. 2358. Still alive… her mouth dropped. “Wait, are you saying I have a thirty-nine year old sister.” She had tried to brace herself for the possibility but the reality of it was… a lot. Shara just nodded. Holding her hands out, Nadine shook her head slowly. “Sorry, it’s okay, it’s just a lot to process and I need some air. I’ll be back in a minute.” Nadine got up and headed for the front door.

Shara sat there and for the first time since she had told Micah about the baby she gave up she realized how the idea of family had just exploded outwards for both Nadine and Faye. Faye. What the hell was she going to say to her?

~Shara & Nadine

Micah wiped his mouth and let the front door close before sliding his chair back and standing up. “Take a breath, love. I got this.” and he put a hand on her shoulder. Then, as if reading her mind, he said “And you’re gonna tell Faye the truth, just like ya told me. And she is gonna get shocked… then probably happy she has a sister… then she’s gonna get pissed off at you and go grab Cochrane to help make sure she doesn’t fall off the wagon. And then she’ll calm down and plan a family trip or some shit.” and he squeezed her shoulder and let go to go walk outside, stopping at the desk and pulling a dark blue fabric bag out of the lower drawer. “You tell her we ain’t goin’ to Holoas VI when she does!” he hollered over his shoulder. “I think I still have the death penalty there!” and he walked out the door.

He walked outside silently and , seeing Nadine pacing, just nodded slightly and sat down on one of the porch chairs. He opened the pouch and brought out an old pipe. Carved from walnut, the bowl was carved from a burl in the wood. He pulled a small case out of the bag next, checked the light on it’s display and nodded, then opened it and smelled the scent of the tobacco. He began filling the pipe and said just loud enough Nadine could hear “Faye is remarkable… you’d like her, I think. Lieutenant Commander in Star Fleet, recently promoted in fact. Medal for Bravery, too. And she’s gettin’ married… big ‘ol Orion Fleet officer. Nice enough guy. Probably the most honest person I’ve met in many years.” A box of matches came out of the bag and the light flared and then Micah began to lite the tobacco. Once it was lit, he took a long puff and looked at her through the smoke.

“You’ve looked your whole life for your mom… ya found a family. Lotta folks don’t have one… let alone two.” He took another puff.

“From this here chair, you’re pretty damn lucky… even if ya do have me to deal with now.”

Micah


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