[ussbansheec] Just a Small Suggestion

From: Andy Maluhia <CaptainAndy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ussbansheec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 10:12:54 -0400

_ Just a Small Suggestion_
by Adonis Kaartaren, Melanie Davis, and Maggie Stewart

Adonis was still mulling over his first official visit as he sat on the shuttle toward the other continent. Sweet lady that Mrs. Aigremont, he mused, but that house...it much too quiet with all those echoes.He made a mental note to keep an eye on her. He had it in mind to visit London and his father's friend but that, even it could be construed as semi official, could wait until he went to Wales first.

Melanie stood on the cliff over looking the sea, a cloak pulled tightly around herself to ward off the cold. She loved the ocean but, with her daughter missing and Vevay so far away, it just made her feel that much more alone and helpless.

Adonis bit back a sigh as he got out of the rented ground car. He didn't think he'd be dry or warm any time soon but so be it. He'd then walked up to the house but got no answer at the door. Experience told him that many families used the back door though. He walked around the side of the house. "Hello? Anybody home?"

Hearing a voice out near the house, Melanie started back down. She was surprised to see the young man standing on her patio and for a moment wondered if he was a friend of John Alen's. "I'm right here, lad, what can I do for you?"

More loneliness, he realized. Maybe not as profound as with his first visit but it was there nonetheless. Adonis smiled at the woman as he approached. "Dr. Adonis Kaartaren, ma'am. I've been assigned as the counselor and family liaison to the family members of the Banshee crew," he said as he held out his hand. "I came to see how you were doing and if I could answer any questions for you."

"Commander Melanie Davis," Melanie replied as she took the young man's hand. "The only questions I have are simple, young man. Where is my daughter and when will she and my wife be home?"

"I wish I had the answers to both of those questions, ma'am, but I don't. The thing is that some family members seem to have a bit of a problem navigating Starfleet's information channels. I want to smooth that out for them."

Melanie snorted as she lead the young man into the house. "Then you have one hell of a job ahead of you."

Another loving home disrupted by the loss. He'd felt it coming from the woman and as soon as he stepped inside. It seemed that even though the daughter hadn't actually lived there in years, the house still echoed with the trials and tribulations she'd gone through here as well as with the sense of a strong family.

"I was well aware of that when I agreed to accept the position, Ms. Davis," he said simply. "I'm also well aware of Starfleet's love of bureaucracy."

Melanie put the kettle on for tea as she corrected the young man. "Mrs.," she said softly, proudly. "Davis is my wife's name, there by making me a Mrs. Without bureaucracy, Doctor, Starfleet's need for scapegoating would be lonely. Tell me, have the others started to blame my daughter yet? Because they will, they did with Janeway."

"I'm sorry about that, Mrs. Davis, but that's always the safest address until I'm corrected," Adonis told her. He didn't need any of his psi abilities to recognize hurt and resentment when he heard it. "I'll be very honest with you, Mrs. Davis, you're only the second person I'm visiting but you're right about Captain Janeway and Voyager. I've read all the reports. Unfortunately false though it may be, people will blame the one in the lead simply because they are there."

"Aye and because they can't stand that shite happens even to good people for no reason," Maggie said softly but harshly from the doorway.

Melanie smiled, weakly, but warmly at the elder woman who'd walked into the room. If not for Maggie, she'd have broken clear through the day Vevay left to find their daughter. "Doctor Kaartaren, Maggie Stewart, our Aunt by way of my wife's side of the family."

Adonis offered the older lady a smile. "I'm pleased to meet you, ma'am, and I can't disagree with you either."

"Then fit're you doin' here?" Maggie asked, folding her arms.

Righteous anger he could understand and besides, he had a soft spot for the elders. "That very reason, to be honest," he said. "Because things have happened through no one's fault and people need help dealing with that. That's my job."

"Then I'd get a new one, if I were you," she observed. "Now go and do it while I make the tea." Maggie ushered them out of the kitchen and started pottering about.

"I don't think you'll make any headway with my Aunt, Doctor," Melanie told him as they moved into the lounge. "I don't believe your line of work applies to her."

"All progress isn't immediate," he said easily enough. "Doesn't like doctors does she?"

Melanie shook her head. "Doesn't need them."

As a thought dawned on him, he turned dark eyes onto the older woman. He thought perhaps she might have just been particularly adept at not giving off emotions but even then, there was usually a hint of them. From her--nothing. How very..."I beg your pardon, Ms. Stewart, but you're an android?"

"No," Maggie said, leaving the tea to brew and wiping her hands on a tea cloth. "Hologram." Tapping her pendant, she beamed. "Wee laddy gave me this when my niece and her wife were on the Avalon."

The part of him that was his mother's son and who loved to tinker with things was absolutely delighted. "How very wonderful!" he exclaimed. "I mean you no disrespect, ma'am, but you're programmed perfectly. I am very impressed."

"Aye, right little genius the lad was.  Garrity," she nodded with approval.

"Vevay first programmed her program. Josh and his wife enhanced it and made her mobile," Melanie added in. "To the point of pure jealousy on the Voyager's EMHs behalf." She added smugly, "Not a hologram out there compares to our Maggie, not that there was a woman to compare the flesh and blood one too either." A deep sadness and longing clouded Melanie's eyes at the memory of the other Maggie. How she wished she could turn it all back, to make her babies babies again and to have both Maggies with her and Vevay.

"You know, Mrs. Davis, one of the things you might want to think about doing is meeting with some of the other families. Granted, I know that you think they'll blame your daughter but that may not happen or it may not happen in every case," Adonis said.

Melanie looked up at Maggie before returning her gaze to the young man. "I guess it would be better then sitting around here going out of my mind."

"Aye," the old woman nodded. "And take your wee boy with you. He must be going as crazy as you."

"Wee boy, ma'am? I understood your son wasn't that much younger than your daughter," Adonis said carefully.

Maggie gave the man a look that clearly said she thought he was daft in the head. "Aye and he's still a wee boy to her and her wife. That's what being someone's bearn's all about."

Melanie laughed. "John Alen is six years his sister's junior, but he's our youngest."

Affection, very clear affection for the hologram even if she wasn't quite alive. Or was she, not unlike that story his parents used to read him and Artemis as children--the one about the stuffed rabbit who became real. "Believe me, Ms. Stewart, I'm just over forty and my parents might know that but I am definitely still their boy."

"Well then what're you fussin' about?" Maggie huffed.

"Nothing, ma'am," he said with an utterly straight face, even though his eyes were merry, "absolutely nothing."

Reaching up Melanie took the elder woman's hand and smiled. "Perhaps I will meet with the others."

"I think that's a bonny idea," Maggie told her with a smile.

Melanie laughed. "You just want me to stop singing around the house."

Adonis reached into his jacket to remove a data chip. "Names and contact codes if you need them. I have a master list in my office so you can keep that."

Reaching out, Melanie took the chip. "Thank you."

"That also has my office code and my emergency codes on it. If you need anything or you have questions that you can't get answered, call me and I will do my best to straighten them out."

Melanie nodded and pocketed the chip.

[ussbansheec] Just a Small Suggestion

Other related posts: