<USS Avalon> Mother and Daughter

"Mother and Daughter"
Lt. Anna McEntire and Lt. Moria McEntire-McKenna

As soon as she'd parted ways with Andy, Moria headed right for her brother. She 
couldn't explain the need she suddenly felt, it didn't even make sense since 
she wouldn't know her let alone know why she was calling, but she needed to 
talk to her for nothing more then to hear the sound of her voice. James had 
promised he'd do what he could, something about tracking Andy's call and using 
the same algorithm, but it would be morning before he could get the connection. 

Moria sat in her office trying to work, but more often then not she found 
herself looking over the row of framed 2D pictures she had placed on her desk. 
She'd just reached out to trace the frames when her comm. beeped. 

"Your all set, Mo." 

Moria smiled. "Thanks Jimmie." 

After her comm. went dead, Moria started at her terminal. Just need to hear her 
voice. She thought as she reached over and opened a link. "Doctor McEntire?" 

They'd tried to get through, several times, but whatever link the Marine had 
used was clearly not accessible from the Avalon. Anna slumped at her desk, 
staring at her hands. When her comm bleeped and an unknown voice asked for her, 
she looked up and into a pair of grey eyes set under a shock of red hair. "Can 
I help you?" 

Moria blinked and she had to fight the urge to say out loud what she was 
thinking. She's blonde! I've seen the old images but she's really really 
blonde! "I'm calling regarding a recent run in you had with one of our 
officers, Doctor." It was unbearably hard not to call the woman who was 
actually younger then her at this moment, Mum, or worse yet Mummy since even at 
her age it's what Moria called her most of the time. "I wanted to sort of 
follow up with you since I'm sure it was rather an unsettling experience."

This was it, the chance they'd needed. "I need to talk to JM," Anna said.

Moria blinked. "You need to do what?"

"Are you deaf? I said, I need to talk to JM. He's security, right? I need to 
discuss something of immediate importance with him." Anna fixed the dozey woman 
with a glare. "Or was that bloody Marine lying to me about his occupation?"

"No," Moria replied carefully. "JM's our Chief of Security. It's just that it's 
not possible for you to speak with him. The conversation with Andy was a fluke. 
It's why I'm calling," Your a rotten liar, Mo. Her sister's voice chimed in her 
head. "I wanted to see how you were dealing with your conversation with him."

Anna's eyes narrowed. "You're lying, why did you really call?"

Moria would have laughed at that if she weren't busy trying to think. This Anna 
hadn't even met her yet and she was able to read her. No wonder the others 
won't let me play poker with them. "Why do you need to talk to Joshie?" She 
countered since she couldn't come with anything besides the truth to tell this 
woman who was to become her mother. 

"Joshie? The J stands for Joshie?" Now that was just dumb unless it really 
stood for... "Joshua," Anna visibly slumped backwards. In a sad, tired voice 
that almost cracked, she said, "We named our son after him. He's the eldest 
son, am I right?"

This was beyond weird. "Andy told you about Joshie?" Moria asked, before she 
nodded in response to the question. "Did he tell you anything else about... 
about our crew?"

In quiet tones, Anna recited, "PJ, Victoria, James, Joshua and Moria."

Moria flinched. She wasn't sure, but telling her the names of her children 
before she'd had the chance to name them might not have been the best thing to 
do. "The orders wrong." She replied as she looked at the woman on the screen. 
"PJ, Joshua," She hesitated, catching herself before she said me, " Moria, 
James, Victoria." 

"And they're all well? And happy?" Anna asked, she'd asked the Marine but she 
needed confirmation.

So it started before we were even born. She thought as she looked at the 
insecurity in her soon to be mother's eyes. "Yes, everyone's just fine." She 
wondered if this Anna really couldn't see herself in Moria or if she simply 
wasn't saying so. "Happy for the most part, but haven't been able to over come 
anything that's made them unhappy so far." 

"Can I speak to one of them?" Shaking her head, Anna held up her hands and 
said, "No, that's wrong of me to ask. I don't want to put you in an untenable 
position."

Moria chewed on her lip for a moment. Maybe if she showed her now that they all 
turned out ok? Maybe she wouldn't have thought on so many occupations that 
she'd messed them up. "You haven't put me in any untenable position. I'm the 
one who called you." She smiled softly before adding. "Your really blonde. It's 
a little odd, I'm use to you having red hair like us girls."

Unconsciously, Anna's hand reached up to touch her short blonde hair but her 
eyes widened. "Which... which one are you?" My daughter... oh God, you're so 
old... In a whisper, she said, "My precious daughter."

Moria gasped. She hadn't been expecting to hear that. She fought the urge to 
close her eyes, to allow the tears to well. When she'd left the house that day 
she hadn't heard that name, she'd been called by her full name, and it stung 
but she had been the one to walk away. "Moria." She finally answered softly. 

Anna reached out to touch the screen, not entirely sure why. "You're very 
pretty." Quirking her mouth, she added, "Old, but pretty."

"Daddy says I look like you, that all three of us do in our own ways." Moria 
replied before she laughed. "You sound like Meggie, she says the same thing 
about me being old. Ya know where I come from your not such a young lass 
yourself, Mummy." It was out before she could stop herself and it made Moria 
blush.

A tiny smile grew on Anna's face but soon it was a grin and then a laugh. 
"Mummy? Oh now that just sounds weird coming out of the mouth of someone over 
ten years my senior." Once she'd got her giggles under control, Anna wiped a 
tear from her eye. "I'm sorry, really, I didn't mean to insult you, but Mummy? 
God, I only found out I was pregnant the other day, it's the deepest, strangest 
thing to meet someone who knows me as their mother."

Moria's blush deepened. "Sorry, I didn't mean.. The others give me a hard time 
about that too. They've all grown up enough to have dropped it down to just 
Mum." She smiled. "We were wondering if you knew yet. I'm sorry about the 
strangest of all this. I really shouldn't have called, it was purely a selfish 
act on my part, I didn't stop to think that I'd add to the oddness of knowing 
we're over here."

"It's not strange, it was at first but not anymore. Now it's wonderful. I can 
see , with my own eyes, that my children will be healthy." The awe in Anna's 
voice was very hard to mistake. "Tell me things, anything, tell me about the 
others, your lives, are you married? do you have children? are the others 
married with children? Have I alienated any of you yet?"

"Your not Grandfather, not by a long shot, Mummy." Moria told her. "Never once 
have you ever even come close to him." She wanted nothing more then to tell her 
everything, to tell her about Joe and their babies, about the others and their 
lives, but that would take all the surprise out of her life wouldn't it? Moria 
wouldn't give up the look in her mother's eyes when her own daughter had been 
born for anything, if she told her now about Meghann would that gleam still be 
there when it really happened for her?

Anna flinched. "You met my father then. It never occurred to me that he'd be a 
part of your lives, not once, but I guess it's inevitable."

Shaking her head Moria answered, "He wasn't a huge part of our lives. You kept 
him at a distance from us. We saw him maybe once a year while passing through 
Sydney. I think the most time we ever spent with him was just before he died."

"He died..." For some reason that she didn't quite understand, that hit Anna 
like someone had punched her in the stomach. Her face drained of colour and for 
the first time since leaving Earth, she resolved to call her father the very 
next time that she could. "But he knew you, you knew him, right?" Why was this 
even important to her? It was something she couldn't even explain to herself, 
let alone anyone else.

Moria flinched. That was a mistake. Chewing her lip again she nodded. "He even 
got to meet a couple of his great grandchildren." The hole she was digging into 
the time line was growing larger with each word. 

"I have grandchildren?" Anna shook her head. "Nah, this is just verging on too 
freaky for words."

Moria laughed. "Sorry, I don't seem to be able to shut up. I.." Her eyes became 
sad for a moment as she sighed. "I'm afraid I might not be able to hang up."

"What's wrong?"

She tried to smile, but it just made her look like she was fifteen again. "It's 
nothing."

"Please, tell me." Anna's dark grey eyes softened with worry.

"We fought before I left." Moria admitted softly. "And I walked away, now I'm 
afraid we won't get back and I won't be able to see you, or my family." 

"I'm sorry." Taking a deep breath, Anna said, "For everything, all the mean 
words, the mistakes, the arguments and everything that I do wrong."

Moria reached out and touched her screen. "There's not as many as your 
thinking, Mummy. I have no idea what's going to happen, or if you'll remember 
any of this, but try and keep one thing in mind.. You did good with us.. Your a 
brilliant Mum. Your a natural... Oh and one more thing.. In about.. Nine years 
from now your time.. Try and keep in mind just how funny it is when I try to 
beam James to Mars, there's really no need to punish anyone for it."

Anna blinked and then burst out laughing again. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Good." Moria replied with a smile. "And one last thing.. We all love you very 
much and we're happy because of you, not in spite of." With that Moria reached 
out, her finger hovering over the button. "See you soon, Mummy." Then she cut 
the connection.

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