[ussbansheec] "Old and New Friend"

"Old and New Friend"
Ensn. Moria McEntire 

Sitting in the empty lounge of the USS Endeavor Moria looked over the PADD she 
was holding and out the window at the passing stars. She'd only been on the 
ship for a week and the view still dazzled her. The first night she'd come here 
and stared out the window she fully understood why her father loved it out 
here, and why even her mother would get itchy after awhile and would need to 
take a short space assignment. Sighing she bit back the sudden sharp pain of 
homesickness and then turned back to her work. The Endeavor had an impressive 
complement of crew that called for two counselors. The senior counselor was an 
Irish woman names Fiona O'Shea and Moria became starry eyed the moment they'd 
met. The elder redhead was an impressive figure in the world of psychiatry and 
Moria was thrilled to be working for her. 

Diving back into the paper Fiona had asked her to read, Moria lost herself in 
the study of the psychosis and didn't hear the doors to the lounge open. She 
hadn't even heard the voice who spoke to her until there was a hand on her 
shoulder and then she noticed a soft chuckle. Lifting and turning her head to 
look at who'd approached her, Moria gasped. 

"I thought that was your name on the manifest." The blonde officer said with an 
awkward smile.

Moria shot to her feet so she could face the woman. "Emma?" 

"I was worried you wouldn't remember." Emma said softly as she looked the other 
woman over. "You look good, Mo." 

Moria blinked. She hadn't seen Emma Bishop since the day the other girl had 
smacked her in the group home when their were fifteen. Shaking herself a bit to 
bring herself back to the present Moria looked Emma over and replied, "So do 
you."

The two women stood there for a few very long moments. When the silence became 
to overwhelming Emma cleared her throat. "I'm glad to see you, Mo." 

"You are?" Moria asked before she could stop herself. Then she flinched and 
added, "I'm glad to see you too, Em." 

Emma blushed a light pink as she reached up to rub her neck. "Can I sit?"

Moria looked at the table and then back up at Emma. "Yeah sure." 

Once they were both seated across from each other Emma looked up, blue eyes 
meeting grey ones, and she sighed. "I really should have gotten in contact with 
you sooner." 

This surprised Moria. After spending three months having her messages and 
letters sent back she'd figured that Emma really did mean it when she said she 
never wanted to see or hear from Moria again. "Why?" 

"To apologize to you and to tell you, thank you." Emma said, her voice becoming 
soft and almost sorrowful. 

Moria blinked again. "Oh." She was quiet for a few moments, her gaze drifting 
down to the table top. After wading through her thoughts and emotions her head 
snapped back up. "Ya know you really hurt me, Emma, and I just don't mean the 
smack. I really was only doing what I thought was best. I just wanted you to be 
happy. I wasn't trying to make your life like mine." 

Emma sighed as she wished suddenly for something to do with her hands. Looking 
up she waved at the man behind the bar and held up two fingers. When she turned 
back to Moria she once again looked the other woman in the eyes. "I couldn't 
see that at the time, Moria. I didn't understand it all for a good long while." 

"What happened to you, Emma?" Moria asked as she watched the man from the bar 
bring over two mugs of tea, placing one in front of each of them. She blinked 
again when Emma put milk in hers. She use to think that was gross when Moria 
did it. 

"I spent a week in the group home before they found a place for me." Emma 
answered after sipping her tea. "A woman a couple of towns over took me in. She 
owned a huge ranch, had a daughter of her own who was around my age." Emma's 
whole face lit up as she spoke of the woman and other girl. "Victoria ended up 
adopting me even though I was awful to her and Sarah when I first got there."

The look on the other woman's face and in her eyes made Moria smile. It 
reminded her of how she looked when she spoke of her family. "I'm glad it all 
worked out for you, Emma." She wondered what had happened to the Bishops but 
she didn't have the nerve to ask. 

"It took a lot of change and a lot of Victoria standing firm, but I finally 
started to understand why you did what you did." Emma sighed again. "I wanted 
to connect you so many times." 

"Why didn't you?" Moria asked. 

Emma blushed and looked down. "I didn't think you'd want to have anything to do 
with me after the way I treated you. Mom use to tell me I wasn't giving you the 
benefit of the doubt."

"She was right." Moria said a little more coldly then she truly meant. "I'd 
have loved to hear from you. I felt like shit for a long time, Emma. I thought 
I'd ruined your life. It was the last thing you said to me." 

The light pink on Emma's face turned a deep read. "I'm sorry, Moria." She said 
softly as she cupped her hands around her mug. Another long silence built up 
between them before Emma sighed again. "I should have told you just how much 
your friendship meant to me back then, how much it still means to me." 

Moria sat there. Emma had hurt her more then any break up or lose of friendship 
ever had. Up until she'd lost the baby and then Sam it had been her deepest 
wound. She wasn't so sure she could just forgive that. 

When Moria didn't reply Emma just nodded and pushed to her feet. "I thought 
this was a long shot, but I had to come see you." She gave the other woman a 
small smile and then turned to leave. 

She watched the other woman until she was nearly the doors. Standing, Moria 
called out, "Em, wait." 

Emma turned around and smiled brightly when she saw the redhead coming towards 
her. 

"Come have dinner with me and tell me about my friend." Moria said softly. 

Emma smiled and hugged Moria. When the two women finally let go they both had 
tears in their eyes as they headed out of the lounge. "Well, first this is, I'm 
Emma Meadows now."

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