<USS Avalon> Besdide Manners by Mary O'Donnell, Sussanna McEntire, & Patrick Kabuki

 
Having been relieved from the bridge Mary returned the rifle to the armoury,  
and found that she felt naked without it. She also discovered that now the  
adrenaline was beginning to wear off she'd wrenched an arm muscle at some 
point.  Back to sickbay we go.  
Entering she again found the place to be apparently empty. "Do we have a  
full-time medical staff on this ship?" 
"There are plenty of 'em," Ming said as he exited Anna's outer office. 
He didn't want to leave Sick Bay just yet while it was still busy but he  
wasn't going to leave his baby with strangers. He compromised with the doctor 
by  
setting Zachan up in the office temporarily. His jacket was in the office, 
too,  and his sleeves were still rolled up. 
"Can I help you with something?" 
Mary looked over the man carefully. "You're not a doctor, but I wrenched my  
arm at some point during the excitement we had a little while back." She then  
noticed some of the damage around her. "Looks like you had a bit of fun here  
too." 
Ming snorted softly in amusement. "Excitement? Who ever said understatement  
is out of style?" he asked dryly. He looked around. Lilin and the other nurses 
 were still busy tending to other seriously injured patients. "And, no, I'm 
no  doctor, even if I'm working on part of that. Come, have a seat and let's 
hope  Dr. McEntire can free herself up soon." 
Beaming up at the beautiful doctor, Steven Striker eased himself off the bed. 
 "Does the war hero get a kiss from the Florence Nightingale?" 
Anna chuckled as she filled out the absence forms. "For one, you may be a  
hero but I'm still married and for two, I'm not a nurse." Once the young man  
huffed lightly but left, she turned her attention to Ming. "What's up,  
Reaper?" 
Ming resisted the childish urge to stick his tongue out at the doctor then  
changed his mind. With Josh missing, there needed to be some light. He did so  
briefly then nodded toward Mary. "I'm not reaping, I'm shepherding. My lost 
lamb  here has an injury."  
Mary shot the man a sharp look. "Wrong nursery rhyme, that was Bo Peep.  
Ensign Mary O'Donnell Ma'am, I would shake but the arm's the reason I'm  here." 
"Ah, shepherd to my flocks, are we?" Anna said, returning the gesture by  
sticking her own tongue out. "Let me have a look at you then," she waved Mary  
over. 
Watching the exchange, Mary felt she could like these people. Seeing the  
lighter side of life was something rare among 'Fleet personnel these days. It  
was then she saw the young man loitering behind the doctor. Looking down 
quickly 
 so her thoughts were not telegraphed to the entire gathering, she felt the 
heat  across her nose grow and knew her freckles were glowing as brightly as 
her  cropped copper hair. 
"Wrong sort of shepherd, too, Ensign," Ming said mildly. "The good doctor  
here just has a bizarre sense of humor." 
Winking at Ming, Anna started to scan the Ensign with her tricorder's wand.  
"You've damaged the tendon," she said simply. "Take a seat, I'll go and get 
the  regenerator." As she turned, she practically walked straight into Steven. 
"Go  home, Yeoman, before I beam you there myself." 
"Will go come and tuck me in?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear. 
"Out!" Anna said, pointing at the door. 
Casting one last longing look at the Doctor, Steven limped away, making far  
too much of being a 'hero.'  
Mary looked up and nodded and followed the Yeoman out of the door with her  
eyes. "Cute arse." She said before realising she wasn't alone. 
"Little too young for my tastes, I prefer my husband's arse much more," Anna  
replied with another wink as she sauntered away to get her equipment. "Nor is 
he  my sort," Ming said mildly. He held his hand out to Mary with a smile. 
"Reverend  Patrick Ming Kabuki, at your service, though, I'm not doing the 
usual 
 shepherding right now. I'm a hired hand to help where I can right now." 
Mary shook the man's hand, her blush rising again. "Reverend? Make you a  
Protestant minister wouldn't it sir?" 
"That it would but consider that the Church extends what they call parity to  
some of us, simply for lack of their own numbers. Besides, I might have been 
a  Franciscan but I like women too much," he said with a grin as he sat down 
next  to her. Even still, his thoughts crawled back to that odd dream that 
Vilya  insisted was an Orb experience. There, he had been a Franciscan...  
She smiled, "I have no problem with your denomination Reverend, its just with 
 my heritage I've found it always best to know exactly what flavour clergy 
I'm  dealing with. Even though sectarianism is no long prevalent at home, some  
feelings run very deep." 
"You're telling me," Ming said dryly. "Thousands of years of tradition  
unimpeded by progress. As to flavor...I prefer some sort of mint." He was 
coming  
off an adrenaline high and he knew it but silliness was better than despair 
over  where his missing friend, his new son's godfather, could be. 
His comment caused her to start giggling. The laughter bubbled up inside her  
and soon she'd started to roar in much the same way as Moira and her father  
did. 
Anna stood alone a minute, soaking up the joy that was coming from the  
Ensign. Oh God, she thought, if you really can hear me, bring him home . Then  
she 
put on her most sarcastic smile and said, "An amusing little Reaper, isn't  
he?" Nudging Ming in the ribs, she started passing a wand over Mary's shoulder  
to deep heal the damage. 
"Little Reaper, if that's what he chooses to be, is still asleep, thank you  
very much."  
Through her tears Mary registered the conversation and stopped her laughter.  
"Little Reaper? You mean one of the babies was born during the firefight?  
Amelia, I mean Yeoman Renaldi filled me in on the pregnancy/marriage front. And 
 
most of it since Betazed." She scanned the blond woman's face. "This isn't a  
contagion I should be aware of is it Doctor?" 
Ming grinned widely. "My son," he said with a nod. "his mother's gone down to 
 work." 
"As far as I know, falling in love isn't catching and the only way to 'catch' 
 pregnancy is by having unprotected sex," Anna informed her in clipped tones. 
 "So, it would your choice as to whether it's a contagion or not, Ensign." 
With  that she finished the deep-heal and snapped open her tricorder. "Good as 
new."  Not meeting either of their eyes, she marched away.  
"Whoops. Do you think if I asked nicely, she come back and remove the foot I  
just placed in my mouth." Mary giggled, mischief dancing in her jade eyes. 
"May  I see the newest addition to the crew roster?" 
"Dr. McEntire's just under a bit of stress right now. She'll settle down  
some, Ming said gently. He smiled then, unable to contain his joy in the face 
of  
uncertain loss. He looked around and said, "Wait here. He's in the doctor's  
office and I don't know if she's in there or not." 
She smiled as the man went into the office, and sat experimentally flexing  
her arm. 
When Ming came back holding the tiny infant in the crook of his arm, the joy  
radiating from him had to be palpable. My son, he thought. Mine. Sitting back 
 down next to Mary, he said, "Ensign O'Donnell, this is my son. His name is 
Li  Nalas Zachary Kabuki. Named for his grandpa, who's around here somewhere, 
and  for his godfather's brother." 
She got to her feet and carefully approached. "Hello there Zachary. My, what  
an eventful birthday you've had. It's going to be quite a story." 
"He's going to be fairly spoiled I think," Ming mused. "My wife and her  
father will tell you that he's a Blessed of the Emissary. He's the first child  
of 
ours and we are both the youngest children in our families..."  
Mary grinned understanding, "I'm the youngest of three girls and I'm always  
being told I was spoilt rotten." 
"Only three? Tsk tsk. There are six of us in my family. I don't know if I'll  
be able to convince my wife that six is a good number, though," Ming told 
her.  "But at least one more. I can't imagine my boy here not having any 
siblings."  
Laughing she replied "But my Da's the fifth of seven, and Ma's the third of  
five. It used to be an organised riot at family get-togethers. I honestly 
forget  how many cousins I have!" 
"On my side, Zachan's family tree will go back to the mid-Twentieth century.  
We literally have every single relative in a tree database. Now, the Bajorans 
go  back further but the Occupation destroyed many of their records. Doesn't 
matter,  any way. That will always be home for him, too. It'll be funny, 
though. My birth  records say I was born in Los Angles. Vilya's say she was 
born in 
Bajor's  capital. My little man's will say USS Avalon-B." 
She nodded, totally captivated by the infant, "And he's the first of  many." 
"That'll be one interesting bond for them then. Different races, different  
philosophies...but Avalon kids nonetheless," Ming added. The idea tickled his  
fancy.  
"It will at that, and growing up on a starship as well. I suppose I'd better  
go and unwind, its been a hectic shift. Nice to have net you sir. Better go  
before the Doctor throws me out."

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