STF

Harris's Quarters - A Much Needed Break

Posted May 23, 2019, 9:09 p.m. by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) (Joana Ribeiro)

Posted by Colonel Calvin Harris (Commanding Officer) in Harris’s Quarters - A Much Needed Break

Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Harris’s Quarters - A Much Needed Break
<snip>

“Uncle Luc came around a lot, and he would spend afternoons with me. Sometimes he would come and visit mom when dad was at work. He was great.” The smile on her face made it clear how fond she was of her uncle and of those past memories. “When I was five, mom got pregnant again. You know… with Erin.” She smiled sadly. “I remember her birth as if it was yesterday… It was June… only a few months before I started school. Mom took me with her to do some grocery shopping… I don’t know what happened… she must have put her foot wrong on the step and she fell down the stairs…” Molly paused for a moment trying to hold her emotions in, covering her eyes for a second before continuing in a shaky voice. “There was so much blood Calvin… I will never forget… I tried to wake her up but she didn’t—“ Her voice cracked. “An ambulance came and we went to the hospital. My grandparents were there… they took me away from mom. They told me I was going to get to see my little sister that night… I had never been more excited. Until the doctor came.” She paused. “At the time I couldn’t understand what was going on, but… Uncle Luc came and held me in his arms and told me…” She took a deep breath. “Told me mom was not coming home.”

Cal wanted to hold her, his heart broke for her as she shared the story of the loss of her mother. Stunningly painful, such things shouldn’t happen to kids. He was also very grateful that Lucas was there to look after them because their father seemed to be an ass. He looked at Molly in a different light… she had been through so much and so much he had no clue of until now.

“From then on, things got worse. Dad went to work every day as he usually did and came home later and later. Uncle Luc would take me to school in the morning and pick me up in the afternoon… He taught me how to take care of Erin on my own, and I promised him I would look out for her whenever he was not around. And I did… until the day I hid my father’s booze. That was the first time he ever struck me. And it continued every single day for four years. I can’t tell you how many times I missed school over concussions and broken bones… the excuses he made me tell the doctors, under the pretense that they would take me away from my sister if I ever told the truth…” She sighed. “I… I don’t know if you knew but… I repeated third grade…” It was clear the subject was a difficult one for Molly.

Harris felt his fists tightening at his side. Inside, he could feel a surge of protectiveness and rage that seemed to pierce his very soul. “Every single day…” He repeated softly, the disbelief clear across his stoic features leaving no doubt that the redhead’s revelations rocked him to the core.

“Then one night I threw his stash of Bourbon in the trash and waited for the garbage truck to come and collect it. He got home already drunk that night when the dive he used to go to kicked him out for drinking too much. He came home… but when I told him his Bourbon was gone for good he became the most violent I had ever seen him… He threw me on this couch. Erin came to help me and that’s when he turned to hit her.” Another deep breath. “I grabbed the first thing I could find… that lamp.” She pointed to the floor lamp laying across the room. “Erin hid behind the recliner and I hit him in the head with the lamp. And he went down. I didn’t kill him… the hit just left him unconscious. So we left… to the first shuttle I could find… and luckily that was to San Francisco.” Molly’s eyes teared up but no tears rolled down her cheeks. “She was four, Calvin! What was I supposed to do? I promised Uncle Luc I would take care of her… Hell…” Her voice cracked. “I promised mom.”

The two tears that streaked down Cal’s face burned and felt so meaningless in light of what he had just heard. Two women who, intimate relations aside, he was extremely fond of and cared for… had been through a nightmare and he was now one of the few that knew. It was one of the most humbling moments of his life and he lacked the words to even attempt to express how he was feeling. “I…” His voice cracked. “… I’m so sorry Molly.”

Wiping her eyes, Molly continued. “That was the last time any of us ever saw him… or Uncle Luc for that matter. I changed our names hoping never to be found, and no one ever came looking for us. Turns out he was always there… in every big event we ever had, Uncle Luc was there. He just never came to talk to us. His parents decided that Robert was a good fit to take care of us, and they set up a fund for our education. They never came to town or told us who we really were, and it was not Robert’s place to tell us.”

“That’s crazy…” Cal said softly. “…and he was always there. Lucas really is a hell of a guy. You’re lucky to have him.”

“Uncle Luc spent most of the last two weeks with me. Since you decided to walk away.” The hurt in Molly’s voice was unmistakable and her last words were uttered in a cold tone. “But you have to believe I never knew any of this.” Her voice cracked again and a half scoff came through. “I found out two weeks ago my father took his own life the year after we left, on mom’s birthday. My parents are both gone, Calvin… My dad has been gone for eighteen years… Eighteen years! And I didn’t even know.”

Molly

“I believe you… I do. God Molly… no one deserves that kind of mess! Listen…” His voice cracked. “… I had my head filled with a lot of garbage… stuff I’m still trying to process. But…” His eyes glimmered with tears. “… but I had already figured out where we stand… or at least… hell… where I’d like us to stand. You just got to me first.” A smile broke across his pain darkened face.

“Stuff you’re still trying to process!?” There was no mistake of the hurt in Molly’s eyes. “What are you still processing!? I saw the man I love throw me to the wolves and leave me in the middle of the most unfair process in my life! And you are still trying to process stuff? Good God, Calvin!” Standing up from the couch, Molly paced around the room.

Calvin knew his mistake the second he opened his mouth. “Jesus Molly…!” His tone more apologetic than defensive. “… that’s not what I meant and you know it!”

“I spent the last two weeks thinking I was going to spend the rest of my life locked up for something I didn’t do! And yet…” Tears fell down her cheeks when she turned to face Cal again. “And yet, that was not what I was worried about…” She paused to catch her breath before continuing. “You say you had already figured out where we stood. Damn it, Calvin… you think you took long enough!? Of course I got to you first! It’s been two weeks Calvin, two weeks!!! Two weeks without you even asking me how I was or whether everything in that interview was true! Two weeks!” The last part of the word turned into a desperate wail as all the emotions she had bottled in seemed to finally leave her body. Grabbing on to the back of the couch she cried, as Cal had never seen her cry before.

Cal walked to Molly, tears in his eyes, and embraced her tightly. “I’m so sorry Molly.” He trembled as he held her. “I know I don’t fracking deserve it but can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”

Cal

As soon as she felt his arms around her, Molly’s face buried in his chest. And she cried, just like she had cried on her uncle’s arms so many times during the past two weeks.

Silently, he held her. Needing her back back in his arms more than even he knew. Never had he missed another’s touch as he had hers.

Moments became minutes before she spoke again, letting go of Cal and sitting back down on the couch. “Uncle Luc told me you’d come around.” She mumbled. “He really does know you…” Looking up into Cal’s deep blue eyes, Molly sighed. “In my heart you have been forgiven a long time ago. All I wanted was for you to come back, and not for me to have to go looking for you. But you never did…”

Harris looked at her with a soft smile. “Where ‘da hell do you think I was going when you showed up at my door? I was leaving to come see you! Just took me a bit to get my head out of my ass.”

Molly gave Calvin a sad smile. “For two weeks I didn’t come looking for you… regardless of where you were going… if I got to you first, you were too late.”

“I want nothing more than for us to go back to what we were… to forget this whole thing and be us. But… there’s something I need to ask you Calvin…” The look in her eyes would tell him that she was serious. “Do you trust me?”

Molly

“Yes…” Harris said as he kissed her forehead. “… without reservations.”

Cal

There was a long pause before Molly spoke again. “You turned your back on me, Calvin…” She stared back into his eyes. “You know I would have never done that. You know I would have gone to hell and back defending you before believing whatever crap someone had put in front of me about you.” She sighed. “I know who you are Calvin… And deep in my heart I know who you strive to be. All those interviews that they showed you? All that video?”

“Molly…” Calvin sighed. “… remember, I was in a pretty damn hard spot myself at the time. Looking back on it, I can tell you… I was played. On purpose.” He ran his fingers through his hair and continued. “I had no business being in that room. I was still exhausted and emotionally compromised from all that had happened and that bitch knew it!” Harris’ fist clinched at his side as he recalled everything that had happened. “You went through a lot Molly… so did I. But I promise you, had I been in my right mind… I am confident it would have gone differently.”

She paused before shaking her head. “I know what they showed you… those were things in the past and yes. I meant every single one of them. I never lied. Yes, I wanted to do to Alison the same thing she did to me. And yes, I joined Starfleet Intelligence for the same reason. Command walked all over me and took my ship away. It’s gone. Together with part of her crew! Our crew Calvin. Half of the Marine complement went with it too! I hope you never get to feel how that feels. So yes. I joined Intelligence so I could gather tools to do the same to them. Or anyone else who tried to pull the same on me. I want— I need to be in control Calvin.”

“I know Mols!” Calvin gestured toward Molly with both hands open, marking his point as he spoke. “You’re as bad as I was and I understand Babe… I really do. What Command did was wrong… what that girl did to you in school was wrong… what that girl tried to pull… all of it, WRONG!”

For a moment Molly rested her face in her hands before looking up at the Marine again. “But I would never do that to you.” She paused. “I thought that… like me, deep in your heart you would know what was right or wrong.” Her eyes teared up again. “And yet, I had to watch you walk away in one of the scariest moments of my life. I played that same moment in my head for two weeks…” She paused to catch her breath. “I was done Calvin… You walked away and I didn’t care anymore… I didn’t care if I spent the rest of my time in prison or not. So… how do I know that you truly trust me. That you’ll have my back the next time something happens? How can I be sure of that?”

Molly

“And I will have to live with that for the rest of my life Molly…” Harris hung his head, clearly ashamed of his actions. “… I was played and played bad and honestly…” He took a deep breath and pressed on. His voice cracking. “There’s not a goddamn thing I should be able to say after that that should change your mind! I left you when you needed me the most and that was probably the most cowardly thing I have ever done in my whole damn life.” Tears streaked Harris’ cheeks as he spoke. “You can trust me Molly… I swear to God you can. I failed you… I failed you like I have never failed another living being. But I can promise you, as long as there’s breath in my lungs… my ass is never ever failing you again!”

Cal

Before Cal could continue, Molly’s lips found his, taking him in a deep embrace. Finally, when it was evident to her that he wasn’t going to continue talking, Molly pulled a PaDD out of her hip pocket and gave it to the Marine.

Cal looked at the small PaDD curiously before putting his thumb to the authentication area and the PaDD snapped to life in his hand.

“I got this today. That was also what made me go looking for you… it’s a letter from the President of the United Federation of Planets… absolving me of all charges. I thought you’d like to see it.” She paused. “Besides, as my CO I need to hand it in to you so that you can restore my place on this ship.”

Looking as though he might actually burst into tears, Harris scooped Molly from the floor in a bear hug. “Oh Mols! Thank God! Thank God!” Then as suddenly as he did, Cal sat her back on the deck… even more ashamed of himself than before. “And to think I doubted you.... that I let that bitch get in my head!” Harris’ eyes hung to the floor. “I will never doubt you again Molly… I swear to God!” A soft sniff could be heard from the Marine’s down-turned face.

She smiled at him. “I know you won’t do it again… and I know you’ve been through as much as I did down there… hell… I can’t sleep without being back on that shuttle—“ Molly couldn’t bring herself to say the rest. She hugged Cal once more before continuing. Her words muffled by his chest. “You don’t know how close we came to dying in that shuttle… and there was nothing I could do about it. And in my dreams I see you die over and over again. And I can’t take it…” Molly pulled him even closer. “I don’t want to be alone in my quarters anymore.”

Molly

Cal wrapped his arms around Molly and patted her back softly. “Now now hun… you stop that right now Molly.” Gently nuzzling then kissing the top of Molly’s head, he said softly. “The fact of the matter is… I’m alive because of you Molly. You kept my little girl from losing the only parent she left at 21. We, Ali and I, literally owe you everything.” Calvin then held her a bit tighter and sighed. “Baby… you rest where ever you want. If you wanna stay at my place, you’re welcome to do so. You want me there with you for a while, that’s fine too.”

Cal

Molly gave Cal a soft smile. “Staying at your place would be nice…” She paused for a moment. “I… I really hope we could just return to normalcy… return to being us. I…” She took a deep breath. “I love you Calvin. I did before and I still do… and that never changed. No matter what you believed in.”

“I love you too Molly.” Harris said softly as he held her against him. “I don’t think I could honestly never stop loving you.”

Sighing, Molly took a small cherry wood box from her pocket. The letters M.G.H. engraved on the top. “This room… this is all I remember from when I was a kid… my dad is the one I have most present in my memories… my dad and Uncle Luc. But my mom… it seems that every day that goes by I forget another piece of her… her voice… her laughter… her touch… her looks…” She shook her head. “There’s not a day that goes by, Calvin, that I don’t think about her… it seems that Uncle Luc was already two steps ahead of me… he gave me this box.” Molly extended it to Cal so that he could see it. “It contains a memory chip all the pictures he took of her… a few videos… and…” Molly couldn’t do it. She couldn’t bring herself to talk about that last picture. Shaking her head, she continued. “She was going to divorce dad… I didn’t know this… she was going to divorce dad and… he didn’t tell me but I suspect it… she and Uncle Luc were going to try it… All my life I wished he was my dad… and… she died before it could actually happen.”

Harris raised an eyebrow at that comment. “My love… being the niece or… daughter… of one of my oldest friends. Wow. I’m surprised he didn’t warn you about me the second he put two & two together.” Cal held onto Molly, gently running fingers through her hair. “I do hate that though… for both of you. Lucas is a good man and I for years thought his… ways…” Harris smirked. “… were due to something like what happened with me, that the one person who made me whole at the time was violently and permanently taken away.”

Molly looked up into the Marine’s eyes at his last comment. Some of the words Tomas had said to Calvin when they were down on Beta Prime came back to her memory. She’s a child Calvin… nothing compared to the woman you loved from the time you were sixteen. The woman that won awards covering the war… only to be taken and killed. Wright shook it. One the one hand, she knew that the Rogue Intel Officer was trying to play them against each other… but on the other hand, Molly couldn’t help but wonder if she was nothing more than a replacement to the Marine.

“Uncle Luc did warn me about you, actually.” Molly smiled softly. “But he also did say that I would never lose you. I guess he was right…”

Taking the box from Molly, Calvin looked curiously at it. He turned it over in his hands, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Hmm…” He said as he played with the box. “… my mom had one of these…” Harris continued to gently prod the box. “… if I remember correctly, it’s right....” Harris suddenly rammed both thumped up into the box lip and a loud click could be heard as the inner lid fell into his hand. “… here!” From within the hidden compartment, a single color photograph slid into his hand along with a platinum banded two-carat diamond solitaire. “What the frack is this?!?” Harris said with a start.

Seeing Calvin prodding the box, Molly’s eyes widened in a slight panic. “Please don’t…” there was a clicking sound from the box lid. “… break it…” Holding herself on the slight tip of her toes to see better what had just fallen into the Marine’s hands, Molly’s heart broke. Taking the picture and the ring in her own hands, she inspected them closely.

Molly didn’t remember when the picture had been taken, but it showed Mary and Lucas smiling at the camera. Mary was visibly pregnant, and a six year old smiling Molly stood in front of the pair. It was one of the happiest pictures she had of herself. On the back, a simple inscription read, in what Molly supposed was her own mother’s handwriting, she should have been yours.

Covering her mouth with her hand, Molly sat down on the couch. Tears silently rolling down her cheeks. “I can’t believe this…” She looked at the ring. “He…” Molly’s words came between sobs. “He… He was going to propose to her.” Sobbing, Molly took her hands to her face. The picture and the ring falling to the floor.

Looking at Cal again, Molly continued. “I’m taking two weeks vacation, Calvin. I hope you don’t mind. I’m going back to Earth with Uncle Luc and visit my grandparents… and…” She paused before continuing. “I’m going to change my name back.”

Molly

“Not at all Mols.” Harris said with a warm smile. “You take all the time you need… it’s family Honey and you know to me that comes first.” Then with a pause, added. “As for the name… it’s your name Molly, your legacy. You have the right to claim that legacy.”

A playful expression then on his face, Cal added. “And, ya know… it can’t help my on rep for beddin’ a billionaire.” He winked.

Colonel Calvin Harris, Marine About To Get Thumped Upside The Head (Also Commanding Officer)

There wasn’t even a beat between Cal’s words and Molly’s dope slap. She rolled her eyes, but the smile was playful in her face. “Of course you’d think that, wouldn’t’ you?” Molly shook her head in fake disbelief. “What are you going to ask me next? To take you to see the cool starships?” Molly smiled. She wanted to tell him that they were in fact, cool, but neither her or her sister had ever set foot on Holloway Heavy Industry’s HQ. Not that she remembered anyway. The only thing she vaguely recalled was a dinner at the house of who she thought was the Carnegie family. But even then, that was blurry enough.

Looking back at Cal, Molly pondered for a second before asking. “So… is there anything else you want to know about me?”

Molly


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