The Kids, They're Everywhere!

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:40am by Cailus Griffin & Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Lieutenant Alexandra Alves MD & Eva Griffin
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:57pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: BACKPOST: set immediately after "Escape Plan", during the events of "Death in Paradise" when the Pandora is docked to Paradise station

After their little heart-to-heart, Cailus led Veronica, the boisterous eight year old daughter of Doctor Alves, down to Sickbay. The Security Chief, using so stern and taciturn while on duty, was now oddly gentle, even smiling whenever he looked back to make sure that Veronica was next to him. After they exited the turbolift on Deck 6, he glanced down at Veronica again.

"Now," he said to her with a faintly authoritative tone as they walked, "We're going to be as honest with your mother as we can. Lying is a very bad thing to do, especially to family. I found you exploring the ship and you got lost, so now I'm bringing you back to your mom. She won't be happy that you went out on your own, but she'll understand. I see no need to say anything more since you've made me a promise. Do you understand, Veronica?"

Veronica seemed a bit less devastated than before, mostly thanks to her talk with the strange and scary man, who eventually turned out not as scary as he first seemed to be. In fact, the girl thought he has a point. And above all, he promised her they won't tell her mom about her attempted little escape.

"I do.", she nodded, with a thankful glance in her eyes, "She told me I should explore this ship more."

From the other end of the corridor, Shae and Aoife were walking hand in hand, their destination also Sickbay. Aoife's eyesight was not that great yet, but she didn't need to see down the hall to recognize the sound of her Papa's voice and she chirped with excitement; she was getting much better at using her words, but sometimes when she was excited, she fell back into old habits and chirped. Shae, of course, had no trouble at all seeing her husband-to-be, and offered a warm smile as they drew closer.

"Well hello, stranger," Shae said to Cailus, then she looked down at Veronica, still smiling. "And who is this young lady?" she asked sweetly.

Cailus smiled softly in response, first at Shae and then at Aoife. "Hello you two. It appears my timing was perfect." Glancing down at the little girl beside him (who was, in fairness, quite a bit taller than Aoife), he added gently, "this is Shae, the person I'm going to marry soon, and this is our daughter, Aoife. My second daughter, after my first one. Would you like to introduce yourself?"

Veronica's curiosity suddenly rose to a new level when she saw the quite strange-looking newcomers arriving. She had to take a moment to size them up, while she listened to Cailus' explanation. He's going to marry her soon? That term made the girl suspicious. In her experience, things usually went as: grown-ups fall in love, get married, and then start acting even more like grown-ups. No good. Hmm. The smallish girl, who looked even more weird than her mother, sparked even more interest in her eyes. Aoife? What a strange sounding name. She was utmost curious, but also somewhat shy.

"Hello." she slightly waved, and looked at the two with curious eyes, and introduced herself, in a soft, shy-ish voice, "I'm Veronica."

"Hello, Veronica," Shae replied warmly, then looked down at Aoife. "Would you like to say hello as well?"

Aoife was suddenly quite shy and leaned against her mother's leg, hiding her face behind their joined hands, then after a moment, she peeked out at Veronica and offered a little chirping sound.

"Use your words, love," Shae reminded Aoife with a chuckle.

"Hi," Aoife finally said. With that one little word, it was like the boundary of shyness had been ripped down, as though they were suddenly close friends with that simple greeting. "Come play?" Aoife asked.

Veronica looked at the tiny child with even more curiosity when she made a slight chirping sound. She took a few steps towards Aoife, getting out of her shyness, and smiling at her with a friendly nod. "Sure!", she said, then, rubbed her forehead, thinking for a moment, "What do you like to play?"

While Veronica and Aoife got to know each other, Cailus glanced up at Shae, a glint of amusement in his eyes. "Doctor Alves' daughter," he explained under his breath, trusting Shae's sensitive hearing. "She was found exploring down on Deck 14, so I'm taking her to her mother."

"Oh, an adventurous lass! Then she and Aoife should get along so well!" Shae replied softly with a pleased smile. Then Aoife tugging her hand drew her attention. "Hn? What is it?" Shae asked as she knelt next to the girls. Aoife started chirping and Shae responded in kind, and they exchanged a few more of these chirps before she once again smiled warmly. "She is still a wee bit shy so she's having some trouble remembering which words to use. She likes to play in the jungle gym with Katrine, the Captain's daughter, and sometimes they paint, and she loves to swim! Oh, and I do recall that we had scheduled a proper tea party playdate for Aoife and Katrine; perhaps you would like to come as well, Miss Veronica?" the elder Chameloid offered, to which the younger chirped with elated excitement.

Veronica looked up to the woman, while thinking on the things she said. Jungle gym, that sounds fun. She didn't remember anything like that on the Benecia. It didn't mean though that the other ship wasn't much much better than this one, but still, a jungle gym. That shouldn't be so bad.

"I... I like to swim.", she spoke up slowly, "Sometimes I go swimming with my mom on the holodeck. She likes to go to the beach in Rio, the town where she was born.", she explained, then she stopped for a moment, thinking over the invitation thing, "Tea party?", she asked, "Hmmm...."

"CAKE!" Aoife exclaimed, practically jumping for joy, or as much as she could in her little leg braces. Shae chuckled.

"Yes, I was going to show the girls how to make a cake and let them help, and then we get all dressed up and take it to the arboretum for a little garden party with tea and snacks and of course the cake. Would you like to join us?" Shae asked.

"If your mother approves," Cailus interrupted sternly, looking down at Veronica, although there was a trace of amusement in his tone that none but Shae and, perhaps, Aoife, could discern. "Come on, now, young woman. Let's go see her, and you can ask whether you can go along on this tea party."

"May we walk with you to Sickbay, Miss Veronica? Aoife is getting a check-up," Shae said.

The word 'cake' lit a sudden new interest in Veronica's mind. She was also curious of this tea party in the arboretum. She looked at Cailus with a worried look, which also told him that she knows what he's referring to. "Okay.", she said, "I hope my mom will approve..."

Then, she looked at Aoife's mom, and nodded in agreement. "Alright." She then turned to Aoife, "My mom is the chief doctor. She's the best doctor in the galaxy.", she explained with pride in her voice, then turned to Cailus on a low, whispering voice, "And actually, she doesn't eat children for breakfast."

"I'd hope not," Cailus said wryly. "I don't want anyone eating Aoife. Daughters don't grow on trees, you know. Now, come on, let's get to Sickbay. Shae and I have work to do."

With that, the four of them walked on to Sickbay, although it was slightly painful to see that while Veronica could walk happily, Aoife was still clutching her mother's hand for support. They soon arrived, and as they entered Sickbay, Cailus looked around for the doctor.

Alexandra was busy as always, having to organize all those medical files and arranging the transfer of the supplies to the planet at the same time. She was trying to best to familiarize herself with her new assignment, and her new sickbay. It was quite a demanding job, but that's the life of a Starfleet officer. "Nurse, please, check these files.", she handed over a PADD to the young Bajoran woman standing nearby, when she suddenly noticed the door opening up, and a bunch of people walking in. She had to look twice as she saw her daughter being one of them.

"Doctor," Cailus said in greeting as he walked with Shae and Aoife to a biobed. He glanced back at young Veronica. "I believe you know this young woman? She was found by Ensign T'Kemi on Deck 14, exploring the ship."

"Lieutenant?", she looked at the security chief, and then the other three people. Another officer, and two kids - one of them being her own daughter. "Hmmm. She looks familiar.", she told Cailus, as she glanced at Veronica, "She resembles my daughter quite much.", she said, "But it can't be her. Veronica knows not to go exploring the ship without telling me first. Right?" she looked at the girl, whose face turned a little reddish.

"Well now that you know, maybe we could do a tour? Mrs. Temple took the class on a tour of the ship, and it would be positively dreadful for Veronica to be the only one who hasn't seen more of the ship!" Shae declared. "And it's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor. I'm Shae Brennan in Science, and I'm just bringing my daughter in for a check before her procedure. Although I do understand if you're still settling in and need more time to look over her file."

Aoife, still holding her mother's hand, looked up at the doctor shyly and offered a small smile and a wave.

"Pleasure to meet you.", Alexandra smiled and offered her hand to Lieutenant Brennan, "I think that'd be super cool. Veronica definately needs to get to know her new home better.", she glanced at her daughter with a look telling her 'We're staying here and you will like it, you're just too stubborn at this point.' She then turned back to the Lieutenant, "We can surely do a small checkup.", she said, then looked at the girl standing next to her mother.

"Hello.", she turned to Aoife with a gentle, welcoming smile, "Ms. Aoife, I presume.", she grinned, "I'm Doctor Alves, but please call me Alexandra.", she said on a friendly tone, "Pleasure to meet you." As a doctor and a mother, she had quite the experience and knew well how to interact with kids. She hoped her demeanour can make Aoife feel safe and comfortable around her sickbay.

Aoife waved shyly to the doctor, then with a smile Shae led her daughter further into the bay to get her up on to a bed. "So, how are you and your daughter enjoying being on the Pandora?" Shae asked.

"Oh, well... I have to confess there's been so much going on since we've got here, that I didn't really had the time to really familiarize myself with the ship.", the doctor replied, "The delivery of the medical supplies to the planet, and taking over this department...", she explained, "But this place actually looks awesome.", she added with a smile, "However, Veronica doesn't really think the same."

"Yes, things have been quite hectic," Shae agreed as she hoisted Aoife up onto a biobed. "And I'm sure Veronica will change her mind once she's discovered all that the Pandora has to offer, and once she's made some friends."

Crossing his arms, Cailus nodded in agreement with his fiancé. "I'm sure that she will give it a try," he added, shooting Veronica a meaningful look when her mother wasn't looking. "

"I hope she will." Alexandra folded her arms, and looked at her daughter with another meaningful smile.

"Oh... well... wel..." the girl mumbled a bit shy, "Nothing is... impossible."

Cailus grunted in wry amusement before nodding. "That is excellent to hear." He glanced at Aoife, whose tail was wagging slowly as she sat upon the biobed. "Well, Doctor, can you tell us how Aoife is doing?"

"Right in a minute." she nodded gently, as she picked up a tricorder. "How do you feel, Ms. Aoife?" she asked the girl with a friendly smile, as she hovered the tricorder over her.

The shy girl was hesitant, but after many long months on the Pandora, she had grown a great deal. Where once she would've been silent, almost catatonic, it only took a minute before Aoife was responding to the doctor. She was clearly very underdeveloped compared to the ambulatory and talkative Veronica, but the two girls were growing all the same, and the following half hour made for a curious mess as the three parents tried (and failed) to control the two girls. Nevertheless: the checkup was a success: Aoife was in perfect health, Doctor Alves had met new patients and colleagues, and young Veronica had avoided becoming the ship's first 'man overboard'.