Daycare Discourse

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 4:20am by Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Captain Nycolas Temple & Cailus Griffin & Emilie Temple & Eva Griffin
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 7:44am

Mission: New Moon Rising
Location: Deck 5 - Recreation Deck

ON:

Located in the quieter middle of the Recreation Deck's Crescent district was the ship's main Daycare Centre for the crew's many children. Being a long-haul service, the Pandora had become quite the family orientated ship, as numerous officers chose to bring along their families for the duration of the tour. Many personnel had kids too young for school, or both parents were serving on board the vessel, requiring supervised care for their little ones. The Daycare was a space divided up into five rooms, compromising of a common room, infant's nursery, art room, music and dance room, and a large jungle-gym with varying play equipment, slides, soft climbing apparatus, and a foam pit for jumping into. It was a place of fun for the young, and sometimes young at heart.

With the Pandora back on track through the Carnwennan Corridor, and no more Tzenkethi trying to attack them, Nycolas, Emilie, and Katrine Temple, arrived at the Centre to allow Katrine to have some fun. After the commotion and scary events of their arrival, the Temple parents wanted to give their little girl some time to relax and enjoy herself, a reward for enduring the hardships.

At this time of day, all Shae wanted to do was go back to her quarters and relax for a while before it was time for dinner and then Aoife's nighttime routine, but Nurse Davies had insisted that Shae bring Aoife down to the Daycare to help Aoife socialize. Nurse Davies had been bringing Aoife here quite regularly since the Pandora's original departure, but Aoife had a tendency to behave differently around Shae, and Cailus for that matter, so it had been her hope that one or both of them would finally get Aoife to open up enough to start playing with the other children.

So, dressed down in her civvies, Shae carried Aoife into the common room where several children were playing with toys. She caught sight of the Captain with an unfamiliar woman, but the little girl with them, stars above, she was the striking image of her father! Warmed by the sight of a family reunited, she offered a smile and a small wave to her Commanding Officer, then sat on the floor near some building blocks, settling Aoife in her lap. Then she began to stack blocks just out of Aoife's reach to excite her interest and encourage the child to move on her own. Aoife, as always, looked somewhat overwhelmed at the presence of other children; how noisy they were! But for the moment she was content to sit in her mother's lap and watch the blocks stack higher and higher until they toppled over, at which point Shae simply began building again.

Katrine was that loud, noisy child. No sooner had the young girl seen the jungle gym ahead, she pulled out her father's grip and ran screaming towards it, somehow managing to maintain her continuous bellowing as she crawled upwards over one of the slides. With a silent shake of their heads, the Temples found a bench nearby and sat down, Emilie resting into Nyx's shoulder as usual. Nyx watched as Shae and Aoife played peacefully with the blocks, knowing that Katrine would never sit that quietly.

"A large play gym like this isn't standard for Starfleet vessels, is it?" Emilie asked after a moment, a curious tone in her voice. "They usually just have holodecks."

"Yes," Nyx answered slowly.

"So why does your ship have one?" Emilie countered, giving her husband a conspiratorial glance.

Nyx just gave a smile and pulled her closer to him.

Aoife shrank back into her mother's lap, her furry ears disappearing under her hair as they folded back to muffle to loud sound of the noisy Katrine zipping by. And likewise, with Shae's keen ears, she was completely aware of the conversation between the Temples, but it was none of her business to intrude, so she simply smiled knowingly.

"It's alright, little one," Shae said in a soothing tone, giving one of Aoife's ears an affectionate rub. "Want to help me build?" she asked her daughter, handing her a block. Though Aoife was easily equatable to a 4-year old human in physical development, her mind was still rather infantile, so her first response was to try to put the block in her mouth. "No no no, not in your mouth, silly imp!" Shae said with a chuckle. "Over here," Shae continued, tapping on the pile of blocks to get Aoife's attention. Slowly, Aoife began to lean forward, trying her best to put the block on the stack while remaining safe within her mother's lap. "There you go," Shae said encouragingly, offering Aoife another block.

Cailus, having quietly entered the Daycare, bore an uncharacteristically warm smile as he crouched down next to Shae and Aoife, tossing Nyx and his wife a friendly look of greeting as he did so.

"Well," he said to Aoife with that exaggerated, teasing tone reserved for children, "what do we have here?"

"We're playing with blocks, aren't we," Shae replied with a smile, smoothing her hand over Aoife's curly hair. "Would you like Cailus to play with you?" she asked Aoife, who then proceeded to grab a brightly colored block, toppling the tower in the process, then held the block up for Cailus. "Not quite what I had in mind, but aye, that'll do," Shae said with a chuckle. Since Aoife seemed to be venturing from her lap, Shae set her on the floor beside her, letting her bushy tail swish and curl around Aoife so she would still feel the sense of protective closeness.

"Daddy!" Came a yell from inside the jungle gym. "I can't get down!"

Nyx sighed and with a sympathetic pat on the leg from Emilie, he got up and jogged over to the play equipment to free his daughter. Of course, the playground was meant for children and not six-foot-three, broad adult men, so Nyx was struggling to squeeze through the small climbing gaps; resulting in more than a few mumbled Danish curse words.

After a moment, Emilie also got up from the bench and wandered over to the others.

"Hello," She said politely, "I wanted to introduce myself, I'm Emilie."

"Well, I should certainly hope so given the way the Captain was cozying up to you," Shae replied softly with an impish smile. "I'm Shae Brennan and I head up the Science department," she introduced herself in return, offering a hand to shake in greeting. "I'm delighted to see that you were able to join us; it was clear to anyone with a working pair of eyes that the Captain was missing his family."

Standing up behind Shae, Cailus nodded in agreement, his own smile much more subdued. "There's no question about that. I've never seen anyone be so happy on the Bridge of a starship as when Captain Rao told him who was transferring aboard." Holding out his own left hand, he added, "Cailus Griffin, ma'am, Chief of Security. Welcome aboard."

"Pleasure to meet you both," Emilie took Shae's extended hand and shook it gently, laughing at the thought of big softy Nycolas, "There were a few times there I didn't think we'd make it, but so glad we decided to come."

She turned to Cailus, and shook his hand as well, "It's a little embarrassing really, I kind of doubt Starfleet command approves of using their vessels to make personal trips, but Captain Rao was so helpful. As were you Cailus, Nyx tells me, on getting those fighters off our tail?"

"A team effort, ma'am," Cailus said formally with a nod, struggling to contain his amusement as the Captain undertook his arduous rescue mission nearby, with the youngest Temple giggling all the while. "We're all just glad that you...ah...excuse me."

Interrupted by the light tugging on his ankles, Cailus shook his head with a silent chuckle, crouching back down to continue playing with the impatient Aoife, who was plainly determined to capture the full attention of both Shae and Cailus for her play.

Shae smiled at Aoife's insistence, and the fact that the little imp could so easily bend the normally gruff Security Officer to her will. "It wasn't just a personal trip, you know," Shae reminded Emilie. "There were some crew members, some late arrivals who weren't on base by the time we were set to depart, they had to get here somehow too," she continued to help assuage Emilie's guilt for taking the USS Palatine off their usual course.

"For Guds skyld!" Came a cry from inside the jungle gym, followed promptly Katrine's entertained chuckle. Emilie just shook her head and continued talking.

"Oh I appreciate your reassurances," Emilie replied sincerely, as she looked down to the little girl playing with Cailus, "My what stunning blue eyes you have, darling."

"Aoife, can you say hello?" Shae said to her daughter. Aoife looked up at Emilie and issued a cheerful chirp which indicated that she understood enough to offer the little greeting, then she held up a wooden block to Emilie. "Oh no, silly girl, not that one," Shae said with a giggle when she noticed the block was covered in drool. She took the block, swapping it for a clean one that Aoife could offer up, then she used the long tail of her linen tunic to wipe the drool off the block so it wouldn't be spread all over the place. Aoife was unfazed by the swap and offered the new block to Emilie.

Emilie leant over and picked up the offered block, "Thank you Aoife. You could probably teach my little one a thing or two about sharing."

She straightened up and cast an eye over to the jungle gym, wondering if they needed to call Engineering to have Nyx cut out of there. She just smiled back at the others, "Have you enrolled Aoife in the Under 5's play group? Katrine could really use a friend, new ship and all."

"Not yet," Shae answered. "The circumstances are complicated, but Aoife has been isolated all her life, so she gets overwhelmed easily. She comes here from time to time to help her get used to being around other kids, but she's not ready for regular attendance yet; maybe once we get her walking or talking... Until then, I'd be happy to arrange playdates; I think she might be able to handle one on one interactions easier than large noisy groups."

Emilie smiled, "That would be delightful, though I'll make sure Katrine has used up all her energy beforehand."

"Sounds good, I'll put something on the books," Shae replied.

"Giddy up!" Cried Katrine with a giggle as she re-appeared with Nyx, father carrying his daughter over his shoulders.

"I'm getting that play thing dismantled," Nyx remarked with a huff as he approached, "It violates safety codes, and Starfleet regulations on confined spaces and it's going into the warp core."

"Always preferred climbing trees myself," Shae said with amusement. "And we do have a rather delightful arboretum," she pointed out.

"Do you?" Emilie asked with a curious surprise, giving another sideways glance to her husband, "This ship is full of surprises."

Nyx just smiled, "Only the best for the Pandora."

Katrine wriggled off her father's shoulders and immediately bounded off towards a small swing, uninterested in the adult's conversation. Nyx took a seat on the ground near the scattered collection of blocks, one eye watching his daughter and the other on the tower he began to build.

"I must say, the family quarters are quite spacious," Emilie commented.

"Not quite the state rooms of the Galaxy class, but well more than what I expected of a ship this size," Shae commented. Aoife seemed quite eager to help Nyx stack blocks, even going so far as to use Shae to pull herself up to her feet to help her stack higher. She, of course, couldn't stand on her own yet, so Shae held her steady while she played.

Nyx stopped stacking himself and allowed Aoife to try, dutifully handing her more blocks from the ground after she had successfully placed one. He remembered when Katrine used to play like this, before she was running off at full steam on her own.

"Wow, look how big your blocks go!" Nyx enthused. "So tall."

He was reasonably uncomfortable at using his 'Dad' voice around Lieutenants Brennan and Griffin, especially the usually stiff-backed Griffin, as it was probably unusual to hear the Captain speak in this way, but Nyx believed the settings and circumstances would allow it. He would just have to regain his commanding authority next time he was on Bridge duty.

Shae thought he was adorable, and the tone certainly didn't diminish her respect for him at all. Aoife was completely taken in, clapping cheerfully once all the blocks were used up. "Alright, now what do we do?" Shae said to Aoife with playful excitement. Aoife gave a playful growl, even did a little wiggle like she was about to pounce, and pushed at the tower toppling it to the floor. Clapping once again with a squeal of amusement, she began building again. Stars above, what beautiful sounds! Thinking back on how quiet and reserved Aoife was when she was first recovered, Shae could scarcely believe this was the same child!

"Your wife and I were talking about maybe doing playdates for Aoife and Katrine," Shae said to Nyx as Aoife continued stacking merrily. "Think you can get Katrine over here to say hello?"

Nyx looked between Emilie and Shae, unsure which one to give his look of concern. Emilie knew nothing of the unique circumstances that had brought little Aoife into their lives. Not that it mattered, really, for a simple play date but it required a cautious approach. Yet, Shae didn’t know that Katrine was a tornado of energy and enthusiasm that could, and often did, prove troublesome.

"Sure," Nyx finally replied in a way that was any way but sure.

He went over to the swings to speak with Katrine, guiding her over by the hand as he talked quietly.

"...that means we play nicely and share," he finished saying as they returned. He looked up and gave a smile, "Well, here's our Katrine."

Still crouched down, Cailus glanced at Shae and Emilie meaningfully before looking at Katrine. "Hello Katrine," he greeted simply, working to conceal that old unease. "This," he said as he lightly held Aoife's shoulder, providing a small extra measure of support, "is Aoife. She's very shy, but if you're really nice and really gentle, Aoife would love to meet you. Can you say hello?"

Katrine nodded before giving a shy, suddenly quiet "Hello."

"Good girl, Katrine," Emilie spoke up from behind, "How about you help Aoife with her blocks?"

Again the girl dutifully nodded, before plonking herself on the ground and looking at the scattering of blocks around her. At the same time, Nyx took a step back and put his arm around Emilie.

"I like the green ones best." Katrine announced, holding one up to Aoife.

Ooh, Aoife knew which ones were green! Picking up a green block, Aoife held it out to Katrine, trading it for the one Katrine held. Aoife was a little wary of the girl, had her ears tucked low at the recollection of how much noise Katrine had made earlier, but otherwise she seemed content to play with the other youngster.

"Isn't this nice, you've made a new friend," Shae said with a warm smile as she watched the two playing together.

Katrine smiled up at Shae, equally enthused at the notion of finding a friend. She'd had to leave all of hers behind on Earth, though her usual exuberance meant Katrine didn't have too many to begin with, so finding a potential daycare playmate was something special.

Emilie and Nyx watched the two play with earnest joy, grateful for this moment of peaceful innocence.

OFF