<USS Avalon> <avalon> Colors of Life

COLORS OF LIFE
by: Caine Reilly McKensely

Caine walked into her office feeling slightly strange.  That had been an 
interesting first meeting with her new Captain, she was unsure of what she 
thought of him.  He had come off as rude and bothered by her appearance at 
first but then he had come after her to apologize.  People on board this ship 
were definitely strange, at least the ones she had met so far were.  The 
Executive Officer, Skyler, seemed to be avoiding her.  Caine had heard some 
rumors that Skyler and Javan had been involved and she silently wondered to 
herself if that was why Skyler seemed to avoid her.  

Walking into her office, Caine looked around.  She had changed the colors in 
the waiting room to be deep maroon, red colors, with pictures of mountain and 
deserts to decorate the walls.  Surveying the room, Caine was glad she had 
taken Javan?s advice and used these colors, they were very nice.  Caine moved 
on into her office, she took in the deep blue colors of this room.  While she 
did love the maroon in her waiting room, she could not have had it in her 
office part as well.  Instead she had painted the room in deep ocean blues and 
had put paintings of the ocean and sunset on the walls.  All in all, Caine felt 
that the two room were very soothing and comforting.

Moving behind the desk, she sat in her comfortable cream colored leather chair 
and looked around.  The room was still missing something, but Caine could not 
put her finger on it.  Shrugging her shoulders she leaned back in her chair and 
closed her eyes.  The past few days had been very busy and exciting for her and 
she could feel it all catching up with her.  

She had written a letter to her family, talking all about her life on board the 
USS Avalon, though she did leave out one really huge fact.  She had not told 
them about Javan.  Knowing what their reactions would be, she feared telling 
them, she did not need anymore problems right now and thats all that telling 
her family about Javan would bring.  

She placed her hands on her lower abdomen and began to hum.  Her eyes teared up 
as she thought about the precious life that had been lost in her, due to an 
abusive man.  This was the reason she could not tell her family about Javan, or 
at least it was one of them.  She opened her eyes and looked at the clock, she 
would have a meeting in a few minutes with a client.  She sat up and grabbed a 
PADD and began to look over the information about the little girl she was to be 
seeing.  As she went over the information, she couldn?t but wonder what Javan 
would think or how he would feel if he knew all about her past.  Dispelling 
these thoughts, she turned her full attention back to the PADD.

Looking at the clock again, she realized her appointment was a bit late.  
Deciding she would wait a bit more before going in search of them, she let my 
mind drift back to Javan.  Besides her ex-fiancé, Caine had no real experience 
with dating and she couldn?t help but wonder if she was doing it right.  She 
didn?t know how to act, what was expected of her, heck she didn?t even know if 
Javan liked her for her, or was only pursuing her because she had turned him 
down and was now viewed as a challenge.  Even with all her training to become a 
counselor, she still could not read all people.  

Caine was pulled from her mussings as her office door opened.  She stood and 
went to the man and young girl standing in her waiting room.  ?Hi, I?m Ensign 
McKinsely.?  Caine shook hands with the man who introduced himself as 
Lieutenant Jeffreyi from engineering.  Squatting down in front of the little 
girl, who seemed to be about seven years old, with wide curly blonde hair she 
said very sweetly and softly, ?Hello little one.  What?s your name?? 

The little shrank back little bit from Caine and tried to hide behind her 
father.  Reaching into her pocket, Caine pulled out what resembled a twentieth 
century candy bar and held it out to the little girl.  ?You can have this if 
it?ll make you feel more comfortable with me.?  

The little girl inched forward and reached her hand out for the candy.  Timidly 
she took it from Caine?s hand, it was a very small piece of candy, the kind you 
could really just pop in your mouth, but instead she stood there, a little bit 
away from her father and nibbled on the candy. 

Standing up, Caine ushered Lieutenant Jeffreyi and the little girl into her 
office.  She offered Jeffreyi something to drink but he turned it down.  
Getting a glass of milk for the child and some coloring sticks and something to 
color on, Caine sat down at her desk and let the girl sit where she wanted to 
and color.                                           

?Now, Jeffreyi, is it okay if I call you that?? Caine started, when she saw him 
nod his head she continued.  ?I am not entirely sure why you are bringing your 
daughter here.  The file says nothing about why you feel she needs to talk to 
me, heck the file didn?t even have her name.?  Caine looked back down at the 
PADD infront of her.  ?In fact, the only information I have is that you 
requested to have your daughter see a counselor.?  Caine looked back up at the 
man in confusion.  ?So, as I?m sure you can imagine, I have a multitude of 
questions.?

Jeffreyi nodded his head, ?I imagine you would.  Maybe I can clear some stuff 
up.?  Caine nodded, keeping her thoughts to herself, and hoping to goodness 
that this man was not betazoid as well.  ?First off, my daughters name is 
Hannah, but she refuses to answer to it.  One week it?s Rapunsil, the next it?s 
Gretel.  Each week she calls herself a different fairy tale name, this week 
it?s Briar Rose.  I don?t know what to do.  Depending on her name depends on 
how she acts, when she told me her name was Cinderella, she spent the entire 
week cleaning, she was literally on her hands and knees pretending to scrub the 
floor and acted like I abused her, the way the step mother did in the story.  
I?m not at all sure what to do about it, thats why I decided to bring her to 
you, and I didn?t want it to get out, about what she was doing, that is why I 
didn?t put down why I wanted her to see you.?

Caine had sat in silence as she listened to this mans account of what was going 
on.  Once he stopped she nodded her head and looked down at Hannah.  After 
taking her in for a bit, Caine looked back up at the Lieutenant.  ?Well, sir, 
it is very healthy for a child to have an active imagination, but from what you 
are saying, this goes far beyond just an active imagination.?  

Standing up, Caine walked around her desk and sat on the floor, Indian style 
next to Hannah.  ?What are you drawing Hannah??  She asked trying to look at 
the picture.  The little girl totally ignored Caine and went on drawing.  
?Hannah?  Why aren?t you answering me??  This time, Hannah moved away from 
Caine and continued to draw.  Turning, Caine looked at Jeffreyi.

?See, do you see what I mean?  It can get very frustrating.? 

Caine nodded moved over to sit with Hannah again.  ?Hello Briar Rose.  What are 
you drawing??

This time the little girl looked up at Caine.  ?Hello ma?am.  I am drawing a 
picture of my knight in shining armor.  He is going to come rescue me from the 
evil witch one of these days.?  Caine looked down at the girl, who continued to 
draw a her knight.

Getting up she motioned Jeffreyi to follow her into the other room.  ?Does 
Hannah have any friends??  Caine asked in a slightly hushed tone, she did not 
want Hannah to over hear and begin to distrust Caine.  

Jeffreyi looked slightly bewildered. ?She used to.  She used to have these five 
little girls that she would play with all the time, then out of the blue, she 
stopped playing with them and shortly after that she began to do this.?  He 
kinda waved his arm back towards his daughter.  ?I don?t know what?s wrong with 
her, and I just want my little girl back.?

Caine put a hand on his shoulder.  ?It will be okay.  I want to see Hannah 
every other day.  Do you think you could bring her here every other day at this 
same time??  He bit hopeful and nodded.  ?Okay, I?m not going to ask you to 
stay for each session, in fact I would prefer if you weren?t in the room with 
us, as long as you comfortable with that.  I?m going to try to figure out what 
set this off and how to fix it.  Don?t worry, sir, you will get Hannah back.  
This could all just be a coping mechanism for her.  But no matter what it is, I 
will try my hardest to get to the bottom of this and help you and her out.?  
Jeffreyi nodded and gave his thanks to Caine as he and Hannah left, promising 
to see her in two days. 

Going back into her office, Caine sat down in her chair.  ?I?ve only been here 
for a short time and already I have a very interesting case.?  Running her hand 
over her face, she began to regret her decision to stay up late the previous 
night talking to her family.  Looking at her schedule, and seeing that she had 
nothing, she decided to go back to her quarters and take a bit of a nap.

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