Wedding Planning
Posted on Tue Jun 23rd, 2020 @ 12:13am by Cailus Griffin & Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Eva Griffin
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:17pm
Mission:
Death in Paradise
Location: Brennan-Griffin Quarters
A Mission Post by Lieutenant Kalin 'Shae' Brennan-Griffin PhD & Aoife Brennan
Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Brennan-Griffin Quarters
Timeline:
Fri Oct 19th, 2018 @ 10:19am
Shae smiled as she watched Aoife gobble up some cheesy macaroni; Aoife was still quite messy with her eating habits, but at least the mess was limited to her face rather than her clothes, her hair, and a good two foot radius around her. Offering a small chittering chirp to express her pride in Aoife’s newfound restraint, Shae then returned her attention to her own meal and the PADD in her hand. Her plate of shrimp and garlic pasta had pretty much been neglected between Aoife and the wedding plans on the PADD; Shae had contacted her mother to give her the news that she and Cailus were getting married, which immediately set off a flurry of wedding planning, and already Shae’s mother had sent some pictures of floral arrangements and possible locations and dress designers for Shae to choose. But then there was talk of scheduling, when could Shae and her brothers all get some leave time, would the wedding be on Earth, the Pandora, or somewhere in between, and STARS ABOVE, how were they all going to coordinate their schedules so that everyone could be there!
Thankfully, Shae had also reached out to Admiral Sophia Azul, who was more than happy to take over the issue of leave requests for family in Starfleet so long as Shae could set a date and location. With a sigh of relief, one crisis had been averted, but now her mother was sending her another message saying that she needed to schedule holodeck time with the dress designers so she could pick a dress and get that started as soon as possible… Goodness, Shae had no idea so much work went into getting married!
Meanwhile, as Shae had spent her morning fretting over wedding plans, Cailus had spent his morning fretting over war plans. Recent political events in the Alpha Quadrant had caught Starfleet off-guard, and the formation of the hostile Alrakis Pact posed serious problems for the USS Pandora in its mission of exploration. The surprise betrayal of the Talarians, once at least somewhat friendly with the Federation, meant that the Carnwennan Corridor was now closed. The Pandora still had some support in the transwarp-equipped USS Palatine, but such support was in heavy demand now. Starfleet’s few ships of exploration in the Expanse were spread far and wide, easy pickings if any of the nearby hostile powers chose to pounce on the isolated starships.
Thus, after a lengthy morning studying intelligence reports with Lieutenant Smith and Commander Nash while analysing the Pandora’s potential vulnerabilities to attack, Cailus was quite looking forward to an ordinary afternoon with the family. He, Shae and Aoife all had medical examinations of one kind or another to be done, so he and Shae had decided to simply rearrange their shifts and go to Sickbay together.
Opening the door to their quarters, Cailus stepped inside, finding Shae and Aoife at the dining table. He opened his mouth to say something before stopping in his tracks.
Shae’s ears hadn’t moved when he entered. Nor, he noticed, had her tail, as she was sitting with her back to the door. And if neither her tail nor ears were moving, that meant…
With an evil smirk, Cailus tip-toed up to them, making every effort to stay as silent as possible. Aoife paused her macaroni rampage upon seeing her papa, beaming at him, but Cailus put a finger over his lips as he managed to get just behind Shae without being detected. He didn’t know if Aoife understood the gesture, but she stayed silent nevertheless, watching with a wide cheese-flecked grin.
Peeking over Shae’s shoulder at the PADD, he noticed that she was looking at possible wedding venues, with one particular planet on the list catching his eye. “Definitely not Betazed,” he said dismissively, and while his voice was normal, it boomed in the silence of their quarters. “I refuse to marry you while naked.”
“OH MY STARS!” Shae practically shouted in her surprise as she dropped her PADD. She turned around and there was Cailus with a shit-eating grin. “Naked, what? Oh you- you…” Shae struggled to find the right adjective that would properly capture the impish annoyance he had visited on her, so in the end she just laughed. Of course, Aoife was already giggling, and Shae just shook her head. “Of course you would think it’s funny, you little troublemaker,” Shae remarked, still grinning.
“She simply has an appreciation of good comedy,” Cailus said with a matter-of-fact tone, smiling at his co-conspirator before moving to clean up some of the mess on her face. As he moved to the replicator, he added in a more serious tone, “I’m not joking about the Betazoid-style wedding, though. They’re good to attend, but we are definitely not having our wedding like that.”
“On no, definitely not, because apparently my mother wants us to have a ‘proper’ wedding; keep in mind my parents were raised as Catholics,” Shae informed him in a dry tone, then sighed. “I know she’s just trying to help and take some of the pressure off of me, but I swear I already want to strangle my mother,” she added as she retrieved her PADD from her plate of pasta and carefully wiped away the garlic sauce. “So how has your day been so far?” she asked.
After ordering his indulgent fish and chips, Cailus’ joviality dimmed as he brought the plate back to the table. “Every bit as interesting and enjoyable as strat-tac meetings sound,” he said grimly, and without hesitation upon sitting, he attacked his lunch, shovelling the food down his gullet with a soldier’s grace. “Commander Nash wants to switch one of the long-range sensors to a wideband search pattern, just in case. He’ll probably give the order officially tomorrow morning, so I’ll have Ensign T’Kemi come to your deck to work out the details in the afternoon.”
“Fish!” Aoife called out, reaching a hand out towards Cailus’ plate to express her interest.
Halfway through chewing, Cailus narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his soon-to-be daughter, before ostentatiously (and quite reluctantly) carving off a small piece of fish with his fork to scoop onto Aoife’s plate.
“Sounds good; I’m still getting caught up with paperwork, so have T’Kemi stop by my office,” Shae said as she made a notation to her schedule on the PADD. Then the infernal device chirped as another message came through. “Oh goodness, now she wants to know if you’ll be wearing your dress whites or a tux… Oh, and if Aoife will be able to walk herself down the aisle as a flower girl… Lovely, that’s enough out of you.” With a huff, Shae shut off message notifications from her mother so she could have a moment to reclaim her sanity. Then she set her PADD down so she could finish her lunch. “I am seriously reconsidering the option to simply go to the Captain to elope again…” she admitted grimly as she twirled her fork in her pasta.
Watching Shae with sympathy (and hiding his amusement), Cailus said, “That will always be an option, but trust me, Shae. A wedding is an extraordinary thing to be a part of, and not just for us. It’ll be special for your brothers, your parents, your friends, even Aoife. It’ll be a nightmare to organise, but worth it on the actual day.”
Eyeing the deactivated PADD, he sighed in resignation. “You’ve got a heavy workload in the next few weeks, so I can help with some of the planning. I have some experience in this.”
“Oh, you are my knight in shining armor, truly,” Shae said with relief. She picked up the PADD to look through some details, then said, “How about this: I’ve already talked to Sophia and she’s offered to help organize leave time for everyone in Starfleet, so why don’t you work with her to arrange a suitable date and location, just in case getting back to Earth isn’t possible; I know going back to Earth isn’t likely to be possible with this blockade, but I’m still holding out hope... Anyway, after that I’ll see what else I can drop in your lap.”
That prompted a sardonic look from Cailus, remembering what she had dropped on his lap one memorable evening, but he didn’t say anything with Aoife present. Instead, glancing at the little one as she finished her plate, another thought struck him.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” he said quietly, still watching Aoife in contemplation. “Before we go to Sickbay this afternoon.”
“Hn? What is it?” Shae asked.
Hesitating, briefly wondering how to soften what he was about to say, Cailus instead just dived right in. “We can ask Ashshy to run a genetic compatibility check while we’re there. To see if we can try again. Not now, necessarily,” he backtracked hurriedly. “But to just see if it’s possible.”
“Try… again?” It took a moment for the comprehension to dawn on her, but when it did, Shae’s eyes opened wide. “You want to… try again? To have a baby?” she asked softly with a hint of wonder.
“When we’re ready,” Cailus emphasised pointedly, but unable to resist that look in Shae’s eyes, he smiled. “But yes.”
“Oh my…” Shae said softly, leaning back in her chair. Shae thought back to their one horrifically failed attempt to have a child while in the Bubble, and then how despondent she had become when Cailus had shut down any further attempts; of course, now she knew he had been right to do so, it had been far too dangerous to tempt fate a second time, and now with a clear head she could admit how terrifying the prospect was of trying again even with a proper doctor and a fully staffed and stocked Sickbay.
“Alright,” she finally said with a gentle nod of her head. “If we’re going to do this, then we do it right; we’ll talk to the doctor about what sort of treatments I may need, get those started so that once we’re ready, we’re, you know… ready…” she said with a warm smile. Her heart was skipping rapidly, both in excitement and no small amount of nervousness. “Just don’t stop taking your injections just yet; I think I would like to get the wedding and Aoife’s therapy out of the way before we start trying, and at the very least she should be sleeping in her own room before we give her a sibling!”
“Quite right,” Cailus said in agreement inbetween mouthfuls of chips, and upon swallowing, he looked at Aoife sternly, but with amusement in his eye. “If you’re grown up enough to go potty, little one, then you’re grown up enough to have your room.”
Aoife tilted her head curiously with a chirp; what were the adults talking about now?
“Give her a break, dearheart,” Shae said with a chuckle. “It’s already on my schedule, we’ll ease her into it once she’s walking easily on her own; we don’t want to make too many changes at once.” Walking wouldn’t be far off for Aoife if her check-up went well today! Shae finished with her meal, then rose to run the plate back through the replicator. “So, are we all ready for our check-ups?” she asked as she retrieved a napkin to start cleaning off Aoife’s face.
“Yes, I believe we are,” Cailus answered, swiftly picking up his own empty plate to put in the replicator. “Ashshy should be ready for us now. With luck, we’ll be out of there in time for the gym before you have to report for your evening shift.”
“Yay, evening shift and paperwork!” Shae said with false enthusiasm to make Aoife smile. But she was truly glad to be going back to work.
And just like that, cheerful and happy, the three of them left their quarters. It was a mundane day, filled with boring work and medical examinations and other ordinary things, but it was nevertheless a day that would be long remembered. With a wedding to plan and then a fourth member to add to their little family, Cailus, Shae and Aoife were finally moving on into a bright future, a future that they would face together, and that was the wonderfully normal day that they set off towards it.
In the dark days to come, such pleasant memories would be a mercy.
