[ussbansheec] Crazy Women
- From: Andy Maluhia <CaptainAndy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ussbansheec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 19:53:12 -0500
_Crazy Women
_by Miranda Hale & Meizhu Caine
Here's all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men
are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are
stupid.--George Carlin
The only draw back to drinking real alcohol is the hangover the next
morning, but her 'husband' still wasn't allowing her to talk to her son
so she'd polished off the bottle of scotch she'd had with her. After
pulling herself out of bed and into the shower of her guest cabin on
DSVP, Miranda ordered the largest cup off coffee the replicator could
make. She needed to sent a comm message to her mother, but she wasn't
about to do it in the state she was in so she decided to call Meizhu and
check in with her, and let her know her love sick stalker was on the
station. Slipping into the desk chair she used her command codes to get
a direct connection to the Caine home, then waited.
For the umpteenth time, Meizhu swore, as she quick stepped down the
stairs, that she was going to shut the comm off or put it on message
taking only. They kept it down in the shop and running up and down
stairs was annoying if not outright dangerous. So it made some sense
that her cheeks were a bit flushed when she hit the open connection
control. "Ni hao, you've reached the apothecary shop but he's not in."
"Good, because your brother's a little weird." Miranda teased as she
smiled at her friend. She couldn't count all the times she'd been
grateful to whatever force had lead her to that shop so many years ago.
Meizhu had become her closest friend.
Meizhu let out a gleeful cackle and gave her long standing reply to that
statement. "No, he's a lot weird," she said gleefully. Then she smiled
simply because she was glad to see her friend. "How are ya, Miranda?
I've been thinking about you lately."
"Honestly, I've been better but if anyone asks I'm fine," the tired
looking captain replied. "Wanted to call around before we headed back
out. How's everything back on the big blue and green rock?"
"The usual weird. My brother's finally got himself a wife. They're out
with Mama somewhere which is why I'm answering this thing and not Mama.
You know Lianjie wouldn't any way."
Miranda smiled a little. "Yeah I know. Anytime y'all came to the ranch
he'd scoot by what little tech we had. It was like watchin' someone
who's around skittish* *horses. He got married? Really? Wow. Why'd he
does something dumb like that?"
Meizhu shrugged. "They make each other happy. You know how up above
the world he seems sometimes? He still is but I think she brings him
back down to Earth with the rest of us."
Marriage was highly overrated and Miranda wouldn't recommend it to
anyone. Happiness like her parents had, like her Aunt Anna and Uncle Mac
had, that kind of love and partnership is rare. "Must be some girl."
"Dance teacher," Meizhu said with a shrug. Not even to Miranda. She
couldn't tell her friend what T'Liante's name was until Lianjie said it
was okay. "Whoever knew he even liked dancing."
"I don't know, Lianjie has a grace about him. I can see it," she replied
as she sipped her coffee. Heard was cleaning, her head still throbbed
but she was feeling better. "Now the funniest thing you've ever seen is
Stevie trying to dance." Stevie; she wondered if he was still around the
station. He looked so crushed when she'd seen him. What hell was this? A
streak of Hale bad luck?
"Well, yeah, big brother's very graceful but that kind of dancing?"
Meizhu shrugged. "Strange." She leaned forward slightly as if that
would give her a better view of Miranda, even as far away as she was.
"Are you drinking coffee?"
"It's 0630 here," Miranda snored and then blinked at the pain it caused.
"What else would I be drinking?"
"You're hung over," Meizhu declared, shaking her finger just slightly.
"Early coffee people don't inhale the smell like they were going to pass
out otherwise."
And that was the reason she decided to call her best friend first.
Meizhu would let her know what she thought about getting drunk, but her
mother would have blown her top. She was supposed to be looking for Evy,
not drinking herself into a place that would let her sleep. She shrugged
as she replied, "I called Stefan and then ran into your freaky bodyguard
friend."
Meizhu looked very much like her mother, though not completely so. Even
still, the expression of some exasperation on her face might have looked
familiar. "Well, I can see why you'd end up three sheets to the wind if
you talked to that jackass and I don't mean Xian. What did Stefan have
to say for himself this time?"
No one in her family knew about her problems with Stefan. She couldn't
bare seeing the disappointment in their eyes. She'd have told Stevie,
he'd understand given the fact he's in the middle of his own marital
nightmare, but she couldn't heap her crap on him. She was the eldest, it
was her job to take care of the others, not the other way around. Meizhu
on the other hand knew her too well and had known something was wrong.
"He won't let me speak with the children, and he's pushing for the
divorce."
Meizhu hissed a few curses in Mandarin that matched the sour expression
on her face. "Y'know, if you see tall, dark, and psycho, you could
always tell I asked for him to make Stefan disappear," she suggested.
"That would work, but I don't know where my son is," Miranda's brown
eyes flared with anger, fear, and hurt. "I'm going to ask Michelle to go
get the girls, he won't fight her over the girls."
"And you can't even hide them because that'd be kidnapping or some
nonsense about denying parental rights." Meizhu let out a delicate
sigh. "He needs a talking to, to put it mildly."
Miranda looked down into what was left of her coffee and wished there
was some whiskey around to add to it. "You're the only person who knows
what's going on, Meiz."
"Why not tell somebody who can help, though? Do you think it'd distract
them from looking for Banshee?"
"I don't know who I'd tell." The woman admitted as she rubbed her
forehead with her finger. "I have a lawyer, she's good too, but who else?"
"Your parents?" Meizhu asked. "This is their grandkids after all."
Miranda looked at her best friend as if the woman had turned into one of
the paper dragons that hung behind her. "My parents? Are you nuts? I
can't tell them! Momma would have a fit!"
"Exactly!" Meizhu exclaimed., smacking her hand on her thigh. "Somebody
/needs/ to have a fit. You can't out there in the middle of work but
what's wrong with it otherwise?"
"Hales do not get divorced. Hales do not fail," Miranda replied.
Meizhu shook her head. "Yeah but the failure isn't yours, Miranda--it's
his. You're being wronged and that needs to be righted. Do you think
any of your family would sit still if they knew how you were being raked
over the coals?"
"I guess not," Miranda sighed.
"Just think about it at least," Meizhu said gently. "Some things, some
people, are worth fighting to the last breath for."
Miranda nodded her agreement. She'd do anything for children, and so
would her family. "I'll think about it. I was gonna call home just
before we head back out anyway."
"No word on them at all?" Meizhu asked. In truth, she wasn't related to
anyone on board but she knew Miranda's sister and her family. Of course
she cared! Some of the incense sticks on the Caine family altar were
for them.
"Nothing," Miranda sighed. "Though it looks like I'm taking some science
officer out to one of the other ships with a working theory."
"I hope it's something. Mama's always keeping her ear on things at
headquarters and there's not much to be heard at all, just the
grumblings of the families."
Miranda laughed a little. "And I'm sure some of the loudest grumblings
is coming from Momma."
"Well, to be sure," Meizhu said. Mrs. Hale was not to be trifled with
after all. "It's just...weird that they know so little. If they knew
anything, you know my mother would find out. She's sneaky that way."
"I know." Miranda smiled at her friend. "To be honest I'm expecting to
hear from her long before the Brass gets around to informing us on
anything. I wouldn't mind having her out here, Meiz, this is not the
time for conventional Star Fleet methods."
Meizhu nodded. Her mother was prone to doing strange things and getting
good results. That was probably why she got away with so many things
over the years. "Tell the guy you're transporting to ask her for help
if he wants any weird ideas. I'm sure she'll have them."
"I'll bring it up." Miranda nodded with a smile. "Any and all help is
welcome."
"Good." Meizhu wasn't sure she wanted to even ask the next question.
She hadn't asked about him even though Miranda had said she'd seen him.
"So you saw Xian Lang? I take it he was totally hung over? Or drunk?"
"Both," Miranda answered honestly. "Kept saying something about an evil
one and Banshee's disappearance. He was looking for a Romulan woman last
I knew."
Meizhu let out a sigh and gave Miranda a crooked smile. "He's been
going on about the first thing for years. Even my mother knows about it
but she just agrees with him and drops the subject," she explained.
"And Banshee was why he stomped out of here. Idiot didn't even bother
to say good-bye."
Miranda smiled. "Maybe you should call and tell him he's an idiot."
"Hmmph," she said with a glare. "And make him think I care?"
Miranda's smile became a smirk as her light brown eyes started to show
real signs of life. "Don't you? Or does he call every one his Pearl?"
"He has yet to call to even say he got there. I know the big jerk's
fine, even if he is drunk as hell, but he could have said so. For all
I know he really is indestructible but it'd be nice to hear it from
him," Meizhu groused. She shook her head then. "I'll give him one
thing. He's consistent."
"What's stopping you from calling him?" Miranda asked as she sat back in
her chair.
"Oh, I tried," she huffed, "but he's a bit of a weasel at times. I'd be
willing to bet he hasn't got a regular room there and, therefor, no
comm. He doesn't even have a regular place here but here I can go
poking around. There--your security types get picky about that."
"We security types are only trying to keep some form order in the
universe," Miranda replied with a chuckle. "Why don't you try calling
the bars, I'm sure you'll find him that way."
Meizhu shook her head. "He can call me since he's the one who took off,
the big dope," she huffed. "Heck of a choice I sorta made, isn't it?
He's dangerously insane at times, usually drunk, and definitely
obnoxious and rude yet..." She shrugged. "He's different."
Miranda smiled warmly at her friend as she leaned forward a little.
"When something just seems to fit, hun, it just fits."
"So don't you give up either then, Miranda. Ask your folks for help.
Prince Charming might be a frog but the family's people, right?"
"Prince Charming turned out to be a poisonous tree frog." Miranda huffed
as she rubber her ring finger where her wedding band use to be. "I'll
see how it goes when I call Momma. I don't want to add to the stress
she's already in over Evy."
"If she wants help kicking some proverbial butt, tell her to call me.
If tall, dark, and drunk is off over there in your neck of the woods, I
can certainly make a sort of decent sub." She grinned her mother's not
so innocent grin. "Lianjie wouldn't dare cause harm but he'd be mad as
hell if he knew,too."
Miranda nodded. There was so much more then even Meizhu knew, stuff she
could never admit too, but it's long past time she asked for help. "I know."
"Just...stop drowning yourself in liquor," Meizhu said softly. "Xian
Lang only does it because he's bored but he knows it doesn't solve the
boredom. It doesn't solve a thing. It just makes things disappear for
a while only to come back worse."
"Don't worry, I finished off the last bottle of real scotch my Daddy
gave me weeks ago." Miranda replied. "Coffee for me here on out."
"Okay I'll stay off the soapbox then," Meizhu said, holding up a hand in
a promise. "When do you have to go back out and take the mad scientist?"
Miranda looked over at the chronometer on the wall. "I have just enough
time to shower, put on a clean uniform, and give Momma a quick call."
"Then go and be well, Miranda," Meizhu said with a touch more calm than
usual. "Find them and tell your mom."
"No wonder she likes you so much." Miranda laughed. "You nag as well as
she does. I'll call again as soon as I can."
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