<USS Avalon> Re: "A Ghost From the Past"

         After receiving her quarters assignment, Cailin found cabin 412, 
deck four, and began to unpack. There wasn't much. Most of the things she'd 
cared 
about had been on the Tambora when it was destroyed. That tedious (but 
necessary) task complete, she moved over to the desk, about to do the one thing 
she'd been wanting to but had not done in the more than two years since her 
rescue--
                 --contact another Tambora survivor.
                 She booted up the computer on her desk and directed it to 
list the other four survivors and their whereabouts. Two had returned to 
fighting the war after their release and been killed in action. Another, like 
she, 
had suffered some psychological trauma as a result of his 
imprisonment--although 
he and the others had been released, they'd still been mistreated. He was, 
unfortunately, still undergoing treatment in a Starfleet mental health facility 
on Betazed. As a counselor, Cailin was amazed at the differences between them. 
After all, she had been a prisoner far longer, had been treated far worse, 
and even though she was required to attend regular therapy sessions she was now 
back at work full time.
                 The last of the four male survivors, Jack Fox, she had saved 
for last. They had been close friends on the Tambora, had even considered 
something more. Only they had never gotten the chance. The Tuathan was shocked 
when she saw where he was--
                 --right here on Deep Space Nine.


*****


                 Kayla Pruitt woke from a sound sleep to the intercom. "Yes?" 
she replied groggily.
                 "Sorry to disturb you, Counselor, but we're receiving a 
transmission for you from  Cailin Danaan, on the Avalon."
                 This was unexpected, to say the least. Although she hadn't 
spoken to Cailin for several days, their next session wasn't until next week. 
                 "Put it through," she said, rising from her bed and slipping 
on a robe as she walked out to her desk.
                 "Yes, ma'am."
                 Fighting a yawn as she sat, Kayla switched on the monitor to 
reveal Cailin's anxious countenance.
                 "Hello, Cailin. Is something wrong?"
                 "Yes. And no. I don't know."
                 Kayla, although not worried, was intrigued by the other 
woman's agitation. "Calm down. Take a deep breath, and tell me what's 
happening."
                 Cailin did as she was told. "I finally did it," she began. 
"I looked up the others."
                 Her counselor nodded. It was something she had been wanting 
to do for a long time, but in the course of her own treatment, had been unable 
to actually go through with. Kayla believed this was another positive 
step--it was something that had to be done for Cailin's peace of mind.
                 "So now you know what happened to them," she said, knowing 
herself that two had died in the war and another was suffering from his own 
demons, as Cailin had. "Are you okay?"
                 "Jack's here," Cailin answered. "On the station."
                 Kayla's eyebrows rose. During one of their easier sessions, 
Cailin had reminisced about a lieutenant commander named Jack Fox. She 
recalled that he had been described as a "tall, handsome Human, with dark hair, 
a 
bright smile and eyes that shined when he laughed." She smiled. Cailin had 
liked 
Fox a lot.
                 Fox, fortunately, had been one of the survivors.
                 "I take it you're not sure if you should contact him or 
not?" she asked.
                 Cailin nodded. "I mean, I want to. We were friends, if 
nothing else. But who am I to interfere in his life now? It's been years since 
we 
saw each other last."
                 "Cailin, don't you think it should be his decision? Contact 
him. It'll be his choice whether or not to resume a relationship with you, 
despite the changes he's gone through. That both of you have," Kayla said 
quietly. 
                 "I know," said Cailin. "And it's not about us as a couple, 
really, because in truth we never were. I'm just scared he won't want anything 
at all to do with me after he learns what happened."
                 "I'm sure, as a friend, he will feel sympathy for you. He 
may hurt for you, because there's nothing that can be done to change things. As 
a man, he may feel outrage." If he cared for you at all, he will probably want 
to wring the neck of every man who ever touched you, Kayla added silently. Or 
to watch them suffer slow and painful torture. 
                 Cailin drew another deep breath. She hadn't been this 
anxious in a while, but then again...it was Jack. 
                 "Okay, I'm going to do it. I need to do it," she said at 
last. "Thanks for listening, Kay. And I'm sorry I woke you up."
                 Kayla smiled. "What are friends and counselors for, if not 
to be woken up in the middle of the night? Good night, Cailin. And good luck."

                 After signing off, Cailin rose. She went into the bathroom 
and washed her face, doing the breathing exercises she had been taught long ago 
that she also recommended to patients when they were nervous. She hoped 
that...well, she didn't even know what she hoped. 
                 She left the Avalon and walked along the docking ring.  
She'd already used her computer to locate Jack--he was unloading supplies from 
a 
cargo vessel on the other side of the station. It would have been faster to use 
a lift to take her there, but Cailin decided the walk would do her some good. 
She could calm her frazzled nerves and try to figure out what to say. 
                 Reaching the cargo bay at which the aptly named Carrier was 
docked, Cailin entered, at first stopping to watch the men and women unloading 
and moving around supplies. Everyone appeared to be going in no specific 
direction at all, but everything was in fact meticulously organized. And at the 
center of it all, coordinating the crew's haphazard movements, was Jack. 
                 Cailin smiled. He hadn't changed much. Still as handsome as 
he ever was, although now, perhaps due to the late hour, he was sporting a 
heavy five o'clock shadow. She approached slowly, careful of the crewmen and 
the 
numerous crates of supplies.
                 "Jack?"
                 Jack Fox looked up from the manifest in his hand, and for a 
moment simply stared. "Idrial? Is that you?"
                 Cailin smiled. He'd liked to call her by her second name, a 
personal thing he had done when they had been especially close, once upon a 
time. She nodded as she stepped closer, stopping only three feet away. "Hello," 
she said softly.
                 Jack blinked several times, before finally turning to a 
young lieutenant standing to his left. "Hammond, take over for a minute."
                 "Yes, Commander," the younger man replied, taking the 
manifest into his hand.
                 Jack moved closer to Cailin and, taking her gently by the 
arm, led her away from the hub of activity. Out in the corridor, after the bay 
doors had closed behind them, he stopped and stared at her once more. 
                 "I...I almost can't believe you're here," he said, wanting 
so much to take her into his arms and hold her. 
                 "I could say the same for you," Cailin replied. " 'Senior 
Requisitions Manager' now, are you?"
                 Jack laughed. "It's fancier than just calling me 
'quartermaster.' I'm in charge of keeping track of everything that comes and 
goes from 
this station."
                 "Sounds like a lot of hard work to me," Cailin said. "But 
then, you always were a hard worker."
                 "Yeah, but this is nuts," he told her, gesturing to the 
cargo bay. "Sure, I have a staff that helps, but on a station this big, 
managing 
everything that's shipped to us and from us can be a nightmare. It's no wonder 
they have to refill the post every year."
                 Cailin's brow furrowed. "How long have you been here?" she 
asked. 
                 He grinned. "About three and a half, which is why Kira loves 
me so much."
                 The look on her face caused his humor to falter. "I'm sorry. 
That was insensitive of me."
                 Cailin shook her head. "It's okay, Jack. You had to work 
somewhere."
                 "No, I mean..."
                 She smiled to reassure him. "I know what you mean. Look at 
it this way, we're lucky, you and I."
                 "How are we both lucky? I mean, look what happened to you. 
The Cardassians held you for over a year," he pointed out.
                 They did a hell of a lot more than that, she thought. But 
now wasn't the time to tell him. "What I mean is, we're still here. We're still 
able to work, and serve Starfleet."
                 She pointed to his collar. "You've even gotten yourself a 
promotion. Full commander now. Captain Marcum would be so pleased."
                 Jack nodded, fingering the three gold pins at his throat. "I 
know. I just wish she were here. I wish all of them were here. Hell, even the 
ones that made it out alive aren't all here anymore. And poor Keller's 
still..."
                 He stopped, feeling like a heel again. He knew that she'd 
suffered at the hands of the Cardassians, though to what extent he was not 
aware. He knew also that she'd been released more than two years ago, and in 
that 
time had undergone intensive psychological treatment.
                 Cailin put a hand on his arm. "It's okay, Jack," she said 
again.
                 "No, it's not," he said firmly. "I should have tried to 
visit you when I heard you'd been released. But I figured you'd been through 
enough, and didn't need a ghost from the past messing up your life even more."
                 "Actually," Cailin began, "it might have been nice to have a 
friend."
                 Jack smiled slowly. "Well, you have one now. By the way, 
what brings you to DS9?"
                 "I've been posted to the Avalon. Ship's Counselor," she 
replied. "We'll be here little while longer, as I understand it, for more 
personnel turnover."
                 "That's great!" Jack said. "Should give us some time to get 
to know one another again."
                 "And this time, let's not lose touch. Okay?" Cailin added.
                 "Not a chance. I...I've missed you. A lot."
                 Giving in to the impulse that had been burning through him 
since he first set eyes on her, Jack slowly drew Cailin to him, wrapping his 
arms around her. Cailin hesitated only seconds before placing hers around him. 
This was a man who was not about to hurt her, and she sensed he would make no 
demands of her other than to let herself be held.
                 Pulling away, Jack looked into her eyes. "I'm afraid I have 
to get back to work. If I don't, they'll probably lose something in there. 
Possibly even one of the staff."
                 Cailin chuckled. "We wouldn't want that to happen, now would 
we?"
                 Jack turned and keyed open the cargo bay door. He stopped 
and turned to her just on the other side, so that the door wouldn't close. 
                 "Listen, I'm working the overnight shift, as you can see, 
but I'd like to see you again," he said.
                 "Of course. Come to my quarters on the Avalon for breakfast. 
Cabin 412," Cailin returned.
                 Jack nodded, and with a little wave, he walked back into the 
fray.
                 Cailin stood still for a moment after the doors closed 
between them, thinking. She didn't know what would come of her relationship 
with 
Jack. Although she felt good about her decision to see him, perhaps it would be 
best if they stayed merely friends. After all, it would be difficult to 
maintain any kind of romance with hundreds of light-years between them. She 
only 
knew that she needed to have something with him, no matter what it was.

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