STF

Harland quarters - Where in the universe is Molly Kendrick

Posted Jan. 26, 2020, 11:31 p.m. by Ensign Chloe Harland (Nurse) (Kate O'Neill)

Posted by Lieutenant Nathan Harland (Counselor) in Harland quarters - Where in the universe is Molly Kendrick

Posted by Ensign Chloe Harland (Nurse) in Harland quarters - Where in the universe is Molly Kendrick

Posted by Lieutenant Nathan Harland (Counselor) in Harland quarters - Where in the universe is Molly Kendrick
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
SNIP

As the men walked out, Molly’s mood improved immensely. Her cheeks were still streaked wet with tears, her eyes were red-rimmed, but she was at least managing a weak smile. “So can we go home,” she asked him letting out a deep breath through pursed lips starting to relax some.

“Yes pumpkin, first though you need to thank Evie. She did you a solid, only fair we thank her.” Nathan said as he turned his attention to Evie.

Molly looked at Nathan biting her lip. It was clear she was struggling to do what he asked her to do. The silence hung in the room like a dead weight as Molly looked only at him instead of the woman she should be thanking for helping her out. Molly glanced down at her feet in deep thought. After a long pause, she looked up at Nathan. “Can I talk to you first,” she asked in a low tone not sparing a look at Evie. Molly could feel her cheeks becoming red and flushed.

Nathan looked at her with a soft look as he looked over at Evie as he took a deep breath. “Come over here hon,” he said as he motioned for her to follow him to one of the corner booths as he slid in. “Sit hon,” he said to her as he waited for her to follow suit as he expected her fully to obey.

Molly slid into the seat placing her hands in her lap. Her shoulders were hunched and rounded so that when she looked down her long brown hair hid most of her face. A soft clicking echoed loudly in the deathly silent cafe as Molly played with a fingernail half under the table. “I can’t tell her to thank you because I don’t have any money. I was so hungry and she let me eat a sandwich and and and and some fries. I also,” she started to choke on her words as her emotions started to well up again, “had..a cah…coke.” Molly sniffed loudly before pulling her sleeve over her wrist to wipe her nose. “I can’t leave here without paying but I…doh…don’t have any money. Can you,” she ran the back of her wrist over her eyes to brush away the tears. Molly knew Nathan would pay. She had no doubt about that but for the first time, she felt embarrassed over what had happened instead of scared.

“I’ll take care of that… don’t worry hon.” Nathan said as he tilted his head as he looked over at Evie. “I am pretty sure she will let us by for now,” he said as he took her hand as he patted it gently as he pulled her head close kissing the top of her head.

“There we go, now… let’s go see Aunt Chloe. I know she is worried sick and so are your parent’s hon, you can tell us the whole story there.

— Home —

Entering the quarters Nathan could see the lights were still mostly off, but as he suspected a small light could be seen near the kitchen table. Looking over as he suspected Chloe was there, as he let Molly come in front of him.

“Look who I found…” Nathan said as he took a deep breath. He wasn’t quite certain what to do next but Nathan always had a way of planning as he went along.

Nathan Harland

“Molly,” Chloe jumped up and ran over to Molly taking her into her arms holding her tightly. Swaying slightly she kissed the side of her niece’s head several times so that she could comfort her and not let her go. Sparing a glance at Nathan Chloe mouthed thank you before growing quiet as she held Molly Kendrick. Molly was the one who finally broke the embrace stepping back from her Aunt. “Aunt Chloe I am so tired. Can we talk in the morning,” she asked moving forward so that her head was resting on Chloe’s shoulder.

Chloe could feel the exhaustion in Molly’s body. Her red-rimmed eyes indicated she probably was mentally exhausted too. Placing her hands on either side of Molly’s head she kissed her niece on the forehead. “Yes,” she replied wrapping an arm around Molly’s waist. “You can sleep in Logan’s bed tonight and we can talk in the morning sweetheart. Give me a second,” she looked up at Nathan before heading down the hall to Logan’s room.

“No… she can’t go to sleep, not right now. Delta security wants you at 9 am at the security office, and I have to have some kind of defense to make sure you don’t get carted away.”

“You said I didn’t have to go with them,” Molly looked panicked. “Aunt Chloe he said I didn’t have to go. It was just a mistake,” she started to sob.

“Baby you are not going anywhere okay. Uncle Nate and I are not going to let anyone take you away or from us. I promise okay,” she brushed the hair off Molly’s face, “but maybe you can tell us what is going on. Just a little bit,” Chloe’s voice was soft and reassuring. Looking up at Nate she knew her husband was right. She just didn’t know what to do. The mom in her wanted to tuck Molly in bed and promise the problems would be gone in the morning. The adult in her knew this was not going to be solved with forty winks on a four hundred count sheet thread.

” I know it’s late but she needs to give us… something. I can’t smooth this over if I am going in blind in the morning.” Nathan said as he looked back and forth to the two as he wondered just exactly was the story.

“Sit, both of you,” he said as he pulled a chair back indicating Molly needed to follow suit as he looked over at Chloe.

“But I am so tired,” Molly said as Chloe lead her by the shoulders to the table helping her sit in the seat Nate indicated. Chloe moved to the replicator and began to make coffee for her and Nate. She debated about giving Molly half a Prozac but right now that might not be the best with her having to meet with people. Returning to the table she slid a cup of coffee over to Nate.

Taking a seat across from Molly, Nathan began to wonder just what he needed to say right now. “I don’t want to keep you up late hon… I know you are tired we all are, but I am not about to let those men touch one hair on you and drag you off to God knows where. We can go over all the details later, but… just give me the abridged version at the very least.”

Nathan Harland

“I hate living in Connecticut,” she looked at Molly. “You know what it is like. Everyone is always in your business and it is all about appearances. My kid is the best soccer player ever,” she imitated a voice that was super high pitched before responding in her own, “but he can barely kick a ball. My daughter is an honor student. Only because her mom complains to the teachers enough about some fake problem they give her an extension so that her mom can do the assignment. Why is your daughter not going to Homecoming? Because it is not any of your business.” Molly went back and forth with the voices for several examples before reaching out and taking Nate’s coffee. After a long sip, she continued with her story.

“I got so tired of Aunt Meredith, Aunt Delaney, Uncle Tommy, my parents,” she sighed, “they always want to make excuses because I am not interested in the Key Club or playing field hockey. I don’t want to go to the school they picked out or study business. I want to hang out with my friends and travel,” she looked at Chloe then Nate.

“About a month ago I met a girl named Diana Marcus and my parents hate her but she was fun and exciting. She wears all black and we got a belly button piercing,” Molly lifted up her shirt to show Chloe with a smile. “She is like your friend Chris. You know that guy you brought home that weekend. The one with the dreamy accent and amazing blue eyes,” she got a dopey smile on her face. “He was so exciting. Remember when he took us surfing in the middle of winter at the beach and you and he had to go jump the car because we left the lights on or something while the rest of us roasted marshmallows over a bonfire?”

Nate’s eyes narrowed as he looked over at Chloe. Now wasn’t really the time for more questions, but he did recall at Chris from their past as well that fit that description.

Chloe sat up a bit straighter bringing the mug of coffee to her mouth covering as much of her face as she could. “Mmmhmmm,” she mumbled completely avoiding Nate’s eyes. “But what does this have to do with Diana,” she returned the conversation back to the topic at hand.

“Oh, so my parents hated Diana and refused to let me see her. You,” she pointed to Nate, “have always said not to judge a person by their cover so I snuck out a lot to hang with her. After a while, I got so tired of them grounding me and complaining I was being a terrible person I ran away. The police found me. My parents grounded me so I ran away. Wash, rinse and repeat,” she used Nate’s famous phrase.

“Anyway, I got so tired of being the person they wanted me to be I decided to do something about it. I decided I wanted to come to live with you,” Molly said looking at her aunt.

“Honey why didn’t you talk to me first. You know Uncle Nate and I would help you any way we could but you need to talk to us,” she put her hand over Molly’s.

“Yes, but you could have said no and I wasn’t going to stay there any longer. If you make me go home I will run away again and not come here next time,” she threatened Chloe. The first streaks of teen rebellion were showing in her eyes.

“Honey we can talk about that in the morning but how did you get here,” Chloe asked. “Your mom called in a panic. The police are looking for you. How did you get here without anyone knowing and why does the shuttle company need to see you,” she looked at Molly and then back to Nate.

“I don’t know,” Molly instantly became defensive looking down at her hands. “I mean its stupid. No one needs to know your name if you are flying and if I bought the ticket they would know I was on the flight so I had Diana buy the ticket. I didn’t steal anything,” Molly snapped at Chloe. “I don’t care what they said. I did not steal anything,” she slumped back in the seat crossing her arms over her chest.

“Okay… that is a lot to take in but… I can work with this. Look… go rest sweetie, Aunt Chloe and I can take care of this from here hon. I will work this over in the morning, I think I have a friend who can get this smoothed over. With that said, this is not over… we will talk more on this tomorrow.” Nathan said as he looked over at Chloe, wondering just what they needed to do next from here.

“Are you mad at me,” she looked at Nate briefly in the eyes before immediately looking down at the table. This was not the way she thought things would happen. Yes, it might have been silly to think she could have shown up on her aunt and uncle’s doorstep with no questions being asked but that was what she hoped would happen.

“Of course not,” Chloe reached out touching Molly’s cheek. “We were worried yes but not mad. Now go get some sleep like Uncle Nathan said okay. We will fix everything tomorrow.”

Molly stood up hugging Chloe first and then moved around the table to Nathan. Wrapping her arms around his neck like she did as a small child she hugged him good night before heading back to Logan’s room.

“Well?” Nathan said as Molly left the room as he looked over at Chloe. “What do you think doll face?

Nathan Harland

“I think I am going to need another Prozac at eight forty-five tomorrow,” she said without a hint of humor to her voice. It was not the right thing to say but it was the honest thing to say. “I think we need to call Kevin and Nicole and tell them she is here first off. I think I am totally confused by her story,” Chloe picked up the cups on the table moving to the replicator, “but I know I love you and I am sorry about earlier. I just can get so overwhelmed at times. I am not having panic attacks but it’s like I can’t think straight at times. Your dad used to tell me to focus on the window and not the door when I would talk to him. It was a line from that movie Sound of Music. You know the one about the singing nanny. Anyway,” she waved her hand like she was fanning away a cloud of smoke, “in the movie the actress said that when God closes a door he always opens a window. Sometimes I forget to see the window.” Leaning against the countertop she crossed her arms resting them on her tummy instead of in front of her.

“So are you calling Francis,” Molly asked cracking her knuckles feeling the tension starting to build in her neck and shoulders. “Is that your friend that is going to fix this in the morning?”

Chloe


Posts on Outpost 42

In topic

Posted since


© 1991-2024 STF. Terms of Service

Version 1.15.9