Mistress Of All She Beholds

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 3:59am by Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Cailus Griffin & Eva Griffin
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 7:21am

Mission: New Moon Rising
Location: Shae's Quarters
Timeline: After "The Pandora Taxi Service"

With the Pandora speeding down the corridor, there was an increased energy to the ship's Tactical and Security spaces that infected everyone it touched, and Cailus was no exception. With their mission temporarily changed to search and rescue of a Talarian vessel, everyone's workload had increased considerably. The phaser array crews worked even harder, the torpedo loading crews double and triple-checked their warheads and even the Security personnel were busy. Despite the fact that Major Halliwell's Marines would be leading any combat action, that didn't stop them from pulling extra hours on the ship's firing range.

Cailus thoroughly approved, and as his second shift came to end, he was still down on Deck 17 in the Security Hub, talking to various individual officers and crewmen on countless trivial matters. He truthfully didn't know if micromanagement before battle helped cre wmorale, but as Cailus stood in the center of the room with his arms folded, he reflected that it certainly helped his morale. Seeing everyone so enthusiastic and so professional was downright reassuring.

=/\="Brennan to Griffin"=/\= the familiar voice of Shae Brennan sounded off, cutting through his rumination. =/\="I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time, but... I could kind of use your help with something,"=/\= Shae continued, sounding just a bit frantic.

The hurried tone of Shae's voice caught Cailus' attention instantly and he frowned in concern, turning away from everyone to face the wall. =/\=What do you need?=/\= he answered quietly.

=/\="I... have a bit of an issue.."=/\= Shae replied uneasily. =/\="Uh, I kind of need a babysitter; it's Nurse Davies day off and apparently she offered to help with a research project in her spare time and she can't be disturbed right now, but I just called into Astrometrics to go over the sensor data from the Talarians and I can't take Aoife in there with me. The Captain put his foot down, I can take her to my office, but not any of the labs, even Astrometrics."=/\=

That gave Cailus pause. He glanced back over his shoulder at that furious mass of activity, hesitating. It was one thing to look after Aoife with her grandmother there, but on his own...that was...different. Problematic. Worrisome. Bloody terrifying, in fact...but the tone in Shae's voice was one he recognised. She wouldn't be asking him of all people unless she was desperate.

With a suddenly dry throat, he finally answered, =/\=I'll...I can take care of her. My shift was over a few minutes ago, so it's really not an...an issue. Ah...your quarters? Or your office?=/\=

=/\="Quarters, please, it's almost her bedtime,"=/\= Shae answered.

=/\=Right, of course,=/\= Cailus said. He closed his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath, before swiftly striding towards the turbolift. It was a bit odd to leave the deck so suddenly, but he was half worried that he'd lose his nerve. =/\=I'll be there in a few moments. Griffin out.=/\=


"It's alright, my little love, I'm not going far," Shae promised her daughter as she finished toweling off Aoife fresh from her nighttime bath. Aoife could tell that something was bothering her mother and as a result was protesting her nighttime routine. Shae tried to get Aoife dressed into her pajamas, but Aoife was not making the task easy, trying to wriggle away with a little whimper of frustration. "Come now, Aoife-kit, please don't fight with me," Shae pleaded softly. She finally got a good hold on Aoife and put the pajamas on the wriggly little girl, just in time for the door to chime; that was probably Cailus...

It was moments like this when Shae questioned her choice to stay in Starfleet. Duty and obligation did not end simply because one started a family, but this was a rather unique case, although Shae could not shake the sense of guilt she felt no matter which choice she considered; if she chose family, she would feel guilty for abandoning her obligations to Starfleet, but as it was now she felt guilty for putting duty before Aoife.

"Alright now, you be good for Cailus; go to sleep and you won't even notice I'm gone," Shae said to her daughter as she gathered Aoife in her arms then went to go answer the door.

"Cailus, thank goodness," Shae said with relief when the door opened to reveal the terse Security Officer. "I'm so sorry for springing this on you on such short notice; I'll be talking to Nurse Davies about this first thing in the morning, I promise," she said in a fluster. "But thank you for coming to help; uh, she's had her bath so she's all ready, and her book is on the table if she doesn't go to sleep right away. Here's hoping that whatever they need my help with in Astrometrics won't take very long."

"It's fine," Cailus placated her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he took a step inside. "I know how it goes, and you're the best person aboard to find the Talarians. Aoife and I will be fine."

"Thank you," Shae said once again, then handed Aoife off to Cailus. Aoife did not like this one bit and reached for her mother with a whimper. "I'm sorry, little one, but I have to go!" Shae said softly, stepping away to get her duty jacket which was draped over the back of a chair, then put it on. All the while, Aoife was doing a wonderful job tugging at her heartstrings. "It's times like this I wonder if I should have just retired and taken her back to Earth..." Shae said softly with a pained expression, giving Aoife a loving nuzzle to her cheek.

Hefting Aoife's barely noticeable weight in his left arm, Cailus smiled ever so slightly. "And then you'd miss being out here, wouldn't you?" he teased gently. "It's fine, Shae, take as long as you need." Twisting Aoife around slightly, his smile widened a bit in genuine fondness, although Cailus knew that both mother and child could probably sense his nerves. "We'll be fine, won't we Aoife?"

"I really would miss it..." Shae said with a sigh and hint of a smile; he knew her so well... "Okay, I've got to go now, love; be good for Cailus," Shae said softly, giving Aoife's ear an affectionate rub. Aoife tried one last time to reach for Shae in the hopes she would take her back, but Shae just simply smiled weakly and headed out the door. Aoife stared at the door, her little lip quivering like she was about to cry, but she didn't.

In the sudden silence that followed, Cailus took a deep breath, shifting Aoife to a more comfortable position. Walking slowly to the bedroom, he rocked her gently up and down with practised ease. Cailus realised with relief that Aoife was a bit heavier than she'd been back on Earth, and he seized on that happy feeling.

He paused in the bedroom, considering for a moment, before instead walking up to the wide viewport. The Pandora wasn't at warp for one reason or another, and the starscape was spectacular, revealing the extraordinary disk of the Milky Way amidst countless stars and nebulae. Turning Aoife around to face the viewport, Cailus called out, "Computer, decrease viewport polarisation to minimum safe level."

The window, usually dimmed to protect the crew from the brilliance that was outer space, depolarised. Countless stars were suddenly revealed, amidst colourful nebulae and the immense white bar that was the Milky Way. "This is your playground," he murmured into Aoife's ear. "How does it look?"

At first, Aoife kept looking back at the door, waiting for her mother to walk back through, but the twinkling of the stars eventually caught her attention, and she stared out the viewport, even reaching out to try to grasp the shimmery dust-like cloud of stars.

"Like mother, like daughter," Cailus said quietly. He knew instinctively that Aoife would never sleep peacefully without a distraction first, and if it had worked for Victoire...

"And that is the Churchill."

In a huge external corridor inside Earth Spacedock, a bearded man in a brick-red uniform stood facing a similarly huge window, with a squirming little girl no older than six in his arms. The girl looked around at the extraordinary view, with the blue-white curve of Earth to their left contrasting the utterly black space beyond. Satellites and ships of all sorts decorated Earth's orbit, from huge Starfleet vessels to tiny civilian shuttles. The girl was visibly full of wonder as she looked around greedily, trying to take in everything.

"Is that it, papa?" she asked in accented English, grinning widely as she pointed a tiny finger at one of the largest ships. "Is that the Chur...Cur...Chur Hill? Can I go?"

Chuckling, the man shook his head despite his daughter not looking at him. "The Churchill. I'm sorry honey, it's not allowed. Now come on, it's nearly bedtime. Mommy will be mad if we don't get home soon."

Suddenly returned to utter quiet of Shae's quarters with a much lighter Aoife in his arms, Cailus took a deep breath to let that sudden tension out. It hurt as much as ever, but he was pleased to note that despite his nerves, the pain wasn't as paralysing as it had once been.

"One day, your mommy is going to tell you all about those stars," he whispered, his voice taking on a soft, almost musical quality that nobody, not even Shae, had ever heard. "She'll tell you all about huge supergiant stars and tiny neutron stars, about nebulae and dust clouds, about supernovae you can see from across the universe and black holes you can't see even if you're right next to them. That's all in your future, Aoife. It's all your playground. How does that sound?"

Aoife looked up him, entranced by the sound of his voice. His little distraction worked; Aoife opened her mouth with a long, heavy yawn, and once she was done, she couldn't help it when she looked back at the door for her mother, but her attention was well and truly divided now, her gaze again shifting back to the beautiful spray of twinkling lights.

"Okay then," Cailus mused, watching the stars right along with her. He noticed the starscape shift slightly as the ship turned, and realised that they were probably about to go to warp. "Time for bed, petite fille." he said quietly, turning away and taking the toddler to her cot before the ship accelerated and the stars distorted. Lowering her down into the cot, he whispered, maintaining that strange, tender voice. "Think you can sleep, Aoife? Mommy will be back when you wake up, I promise."

Aoife raised her arms to him with the little whimper that seemed to work so well on her mother, hoping that he would pick her up and she wouldn't have to go to sleep just yet.

The whimper actually made Cailus wince, but he stood firm, instead tucking her in. It was somewhat disconcerting to see Aoife's tail poking out of the blanket; a reminder, as if it was necessary, that Aoife was a very unique child. "Computer, lights." As the room darkened, he gently stroked her hair.

"Sleep, Aoife," he whispered as he leaned over the cot. "I hope you're not expecting me to sing you a lullaby. Your mother would be a little cross with me, don't you think?" With a conspiratorial wink, his voice became gradually more quiet. "Better to sleep, little one. Sleep, and dream of the stars."

Aoife reached for him again; she had her mommy trained pretty well, but she was going to have to work a little harder if she wanted Cailus to do what she wanted.

With a bemused sigh, Cailus shook his head. "Okay Aoife, you win. Come on then." Picking her up once more he grumbled, "You're a crafty little one for someone who can't even speak yet."

Aoife's little tail began to wag happily as he picked her up, wiggling excitedly at the chance to stay up a little longer.

Resigned to the fact that Aoife clearly wasn't ready to sleep, Cailus grabbed a padd from the drawers before taking Aoife over to the couch. It was a surprisingly tricky bit of geometry to sit comfortably while also giving Aoife room to nap on his chest, but he managed it, flicking on his padd to work while Aoife got in her required cuddle time.

"Oh, I'm an idiot," Cailus said to himself with an irritated wince as an idle thought struck. "Computer, has Shae recorded her voice in that book on the bedside table?"

"Affirmative," came the computer's surprisingly quiet response.

"Play it."

With a chirp of confirmation, Shae's voice began to fill the room, telling the tale of little Thumbalina and her journey to find her fairy prince. The sound of her mother's soft lilted voice was soothing and it was helping to lull Aoife closer to sleep as she cuddled up on Cailus' chest, but she was disappointed that he didn't actually go get the book for her; after all, that nurse lady let her see the book with the pretty pictures! Instead, he was holding a PaDD with boring squiggles. She made a little sound protest, not quite a growl but clearly a disgruntled sound as she started getting a little kicky, aiming for his PaDD; no, he was doing this wrong, he was supposed to show her the book!

"Really?" Cailus said, half amused and half exasperated as the playback of Shae's voice continued. Picking up Aoife fully to look at her, he raised his eyebrows. "Well," he said with mock seriousness. "You're officially a much more stubborn child than my daughter ever was. Congratulations. Computer, pause."

Within a few moments (and with some more careful spatial geometry), the padd had been replaced by the book, with Aoife now lying on his chest as he himself lay on the sofa. It was still dark, which was just as well; Cailus suspected that Aoife was making quite a mess of his typically neat uniform. Holding up the book and pressing the button to begin the story, he murmured "Okay then Miss Brennan, here we go. Let's learn about Thumbalina together..."

Looking quite pleased with herself, Aoife snuggled back in, her tail wagging happily as she watched the story unfolding on the pages all to her mother's narration. She didn't get very far into the book before she started to nod off, her soft trilling purr indicating her contentment.

It was a full fifteen minutes later before Cailus dared to shift the dozing Aoife, carrying her to the cot with an air of extraordinary caution. He froze briefly as Aoife's purr shifted slightly at the movement, but she finally settled down into her sleep upon being lowered into the cot, curled up automatically on her side as her mother's Irish-accented rendition of Thumbalina continued. Cailus watched over Aoife for a moment as she dozed, his face impassive, before leaving the girl to her dreams.

Strange. He'd been so nervous...frightened, really...of being left alone with Aoife, as if he'd break down in an instant. As Cailus walked back to the main room, he couldn't help but chuckle at his own foolishness. That stubborn little girl wasn't Victoire, wasn't his daughter, and nothing could ever fill that void.

Regardless, there was no mistaking that feeling in Cailus' stomach. It felt strangely similar to that awful twisted feeling in his gut, and there was still pain there...but even so, the sound of Aoife's purr couldn't fail to make him smile.