A Past Long Forgotten Part 5

Laura walked into the small cafe down the street from Starfleet Academy that her and her friends had met at since their freshman year at the school. Since then, the cafe had undergone several changes and, at that moment, was both an indoor and outdoor restaurant housing small tables with umbrellas to screen the sun. She found a table in the shade and slid into the seat facing away from the street. She put her palm on her forehead and slowly looked down at the padd sitting in front of her.

“Captain Jenkins. I regret to inform you that I have decided to resign from my posting aboard the Shakespeare. Melissa and I have, after much debate, decided to take Erin and Lesa back to Icari V to let them grow up on a planet rather than on a starship. I am now officially stating my resignation and I ask you to convey this message to Starfleet Command. Thank you and it’s been a pleasure working for you. Lieutenant Junior Grade Keith Evans.”

Laura shook her head in frustration. She had received a similar letter from Melissa, Keith’s wife. She covered her eyes with her hand and groaned inwardly.

A clearing of someone’s throat brought her back to reality. “Could I get you anything to drink captain?”

Laura’s brow furrowed in thought at how the waiter knew her rank, but then it dawned on her that she was still wearing her uniform. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Iced tea please.” The young man nodded in acknowledgement and headed back into the restaurant.

Laura shuffled through her pile of padds and placed the two from both her now resigned officers on the pile’s bottom. She quickly scanned over Admiral Gerhart’s debriefing report he had handed her on her way out the door and decided that it would just be easier to read it later. Just as she got to a report that Heather had filed just before they reached Earth, a young girl with curly reddish-brown hair wearing a Starfleet medical uniform joined her at the table.

Laura smiled. “Hey Tessa!” She greeted, motioning to her friend to take the seat across from her. The girl did so and set her bag down next to the table.

“How have you been?” She asked. “And how’s Casie doing?”

“Good.” Was the response. “She’s actually at her grandparents’ house right now. I just got back from an appointment with Admiral Gerhart.” She rolled her eyes as she mentioned the admiral’s name, but continued anyway. “You are still coming over for dinner tonight, right?”

Tessa nodded. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss it!” She looked up as the waiter set a glass of iced tea in front of Laura. “Can I have a lemonade?” She asked, looking the male waiter over. He nodded and she watched him lead. “Wow. He’s pretty cute.” Tessa turned to the captain. “Maybe you could ask him out!” She suggested, still smiling.

Laura just rolled her eyes. “He’s half my age.” She retorted, rolling her eyes again at the comment. “Listen to me. I sound like I’m fifty.”

Tessa giggled and scanned the restaurant. Her blue eyes lit up in excitement. “There’s Shelly!”

A shriek followed the observation, as Shelly MacAffery Anderson made her way over to her two friends’ table. “Oh my gods! It is so great to see you two!” She bounced into the seat between Laura and Tessa and grinned. She rose her eyebrow at Laura’s uniform. “Looks good.” She commented. “The four pips really do something for you.”

Laura had forgotten that she hadn’t seen Shelly since she was promoted. “Thanks.” She responded, taking a sip of her iced tea. “How’re Brian and the kids?”

Shelly nodded. “They’re good.” The waiter had returned with Tessa’s lemonade and he stopped short when he saw yet another woman at the table. She ignored his annoyed expression and politely asked for a water. “Caity just entered her ‘everything revolves around me’ stage. And Matt is just Matt. I’m a little worried about him. He doesn’t like to get dirty and he’d rather play inside with Caity’s dolls than out in the dirt playing sports. Brian’s really disappointed.”

Tessa looked confused. “Why’s that bad? Guys aren’t always about sports and war and dirt.”

“I know that.” Shelly sighed. “It’s just that Brian always wanted to have a son that would play baseball with him. He loves that game.”

Laura laughed softly. “Give it time. Casie already went through her ‘I want to be a doctor’ phase. Now she want to be a captain, like me. Next thing you know she’ll want to pilot starships.”

“Just like her father.” Shelly offered, unaware of the effect that single comment would have on her friend.

Laura’s face fell. “Yeah.” She mumbled. “Just like her father.” Tessa and Shelly gave her an odd look, but Jenkins’ thoughts drifted to how Casie and Tom were doing.

***

Casie skipped excitedly down the sand and she stopped just at the edge of the water. She thrust the blue bucket downward and waited for it to fill with the salt water before she bounded back up the beach to where Tom was working on a sand castle. Her mouth formed a smile as she saw what Tom had created in just a few seconds. “You’re good!” She exclaimed, looking down at the towers Tom had designed in the sand. The small fort they had begun with was slowly developing into a full scale castle.

He grinned up at her, eyes twinkling in the sunlight. “Thank you.”

She plopped herself down in the sand next to Tom and handed him the bucket of water. “This is for the moat.” She explained. Then her brow furrowed. “We are going to have a moat, right?”

Tom laughed. “Of course we’re going to have a moat. It wouldn’t be a castle without a moat, now would it?” She shook her head.

Casie giggled and looked up at Tom’s eyes. “Your eyes are pretty.” She observed. “They look like the sky.” She pointed up at the sky, which did indeed match the color of his eyes. He smiled.

“Thank you.”

She grinned and scooped up a handful of sand. “You’re welcome.” She matted the sand on one side of the hole she had just created. “They kinda look like my eyes.” Casie stated, still busy forming the moat she had just started. “Mommy always tells me that when she looks in my eyes she can see the bottom of my soul. She says that everyone’s eyes are like that and that she can tell how someone is feeling just by looking in their eyes.”

Tom nodded. Laura always did have a thing for his eyes. “Your mother’s right.”

“If she is, then why are you so sad?” Casie wondered plainly. Tom waited for an explanation. “When we had the picnic back on Mommy’s ship, your eyes were twinkling like the stars. Now they’re not as blue.” Tom looked at her. Someone had once said that innocence always tells the truth. She stopped what she was doing. “What happened?”

***

B’Elanna bravely hit the button on the door outside of her father’s office at Starfleet Headquarters. She hadn’t informed him that she was going to visit him, but she hoped he would be happy to see her. It had been over twenty years. The door opened swiftly to reveal a tall man with dark brown hair and deep mysterious eyes. He was dressed in an admiral’s uniform and he addressed her in a deep voice.

“May I help you?” He asked, sensing a familiarity of the half-Klingon in front of him.

She cleared her throat, her breath catching. “Daddy?” She asked meekly.

His expression softened as he realized who was standing in front of him. “B’Elanna?” He choked, looking her over. She had changed a lot. No longer was she a young girl, now she was a young beautiful woman. Her curly brown hair fell to her shoulders and slight Klingon ridges adorned her forehead. She was wearing a Starfleet engineering uniform decorated with pips signifying her rank as lieutenant. She nodded slowly and felt her eyes fill with tears.

Mark Torres gasped and took her into his arms. A tear fell down his cheek and onto her uniform. He had heard of her return with Voyager, but didn’t fully believe it. “Oh my gods, I never thought I’d ever see you again.”

She backed away and looked at him. “I’m here Daddy. And I forgive you.”

He smiled softly and motioned for her to accompany him over to his office’s couch. “Thank you Little Bee.” He hadn’t called her that in so long. “And I apologize. Ever since I left, I’ve regretted it. And I tried to talk to you, but your mother refused to let me. And then you left. I found out later that your mother had taken you back to the Klingon Homeworld. I had no way of communicating with you.”

She sniffled a little bit before speaking again. “It’s okay Daddy. I know you’re sorry.” There were a few moments of silence before Admiral Torres started to speak again.

“Would you mind filling me in on your life?” He questioned, his voice full of hope and love.

B’Elanna nodded and smiled. “Would you mind accompanying me to the little cafe down the street? We can talk about it over lunch.”

He nodded and they headed out the door.

***

B’Elanna Torres and her father, Admiral Mark Torres, sat down at a table in the small restaurant down the street from the Academy. As she sat down, B’Elanna noticed Captain Jenkins sitting at a table across the room. She was with two other young women. Torres decided to just ignore them and she turned to her father who had just finished ordered a cup of coffee. She asked for a glass of water.

“Now, B’Elanna, did you decide to join Starfleet because of me? Or just to spite your mother?”

She thought for a moment. “To spite Mom. But I didn’t finish at the Academy. I dropped out before the end of my second year.” She took a deep breath. “And then I joined the Maquis.”

He looked surprise. “Then how did you manage to end up on Voyager?”

“You know about that?”

“Just that you were onboard. I, along with the rest of the Federation, received a list of both deceased and living crewmembers of Voyager. I just saw your name. I didn’t read into it.” He saw her look of disappointment. “B’Elanna, I kept close tabs on you until your mother took you to Quo’nos. After that, I didn’t know where you went.”

She nodded, understanding. “My ship in the Maquis got caught in a displacement wave in the Badlands, the same thing that happened to Voyager. We ended up in the Delta Quadrant a few days before they did.” She politely thanked the waiter who had just brought her water, and took a quick sip. “Chaoktay, our cell leader, destroyed the ship in order to defeat the Kazon, a race native to the Quadrant that quickly became our enemies. We all ended up on Voyager.” She explained, as brief as possible.

Mark sipped his coffee, slowly letting it all sink in. “What did you end up doing on Voyager? I know you never did really care for the ways of Starfleet.”

She laughed ironically. “Actually, Chakotay managed to convince Captain Janeway that I’d be a good chief engineer and, surprisingly enough, she granted his request.”

“Congratulations.” He offered, a grin spread across his face. “I’m very proud of you.”

“Thanks.” She whispered. B’Elanna thought hard for a moment before looking over at her father. “Would you like to join me for a picnic at my good friend’s house tonight?”

He rose an eyebrow. “Does she mind?”

“He.” She corrected him. He gave her an apologetic glance and she shook her head. “Probably not. Captain Janeway and most of Voyager’s senior staff will be there. Along with a few of Tom’s friends.”

“Tom?” The admiral asked. “Tom Paris? Voyager’s pilot?”

She nodded.

“I haven’t seen Owen in a long time.” He muttered, more to himself than her. Mark laughed softly and cocked his head to the side. “I would love to.”

***

Laura was omitting herself from the conversation Tessa and Shelly were having, when she noticed Lieutenant Torres and an elder gentleman with dark hair and an admiral’s uniform on walk into the cafe. She debated whether or not to say something or offer for them the join her and her friends, but she decided against it.

“Laura? Shakespeare to Captain Jenkins. Come in please.” Shelly joked. Laura was immediately drawn from her daydreaming and she looked at Shelly questioningly. “I asked who all is going to be at the picnic this evening.”

She closed her eyes and tried to process the question. “You two, Heather and Learra, and most of Voyager’s senior staff.”

“Why Voyager’s senior staff?” Tessa asked, taking a gulp of her lemonade.

“The admiral asked them to come. Apparently, he knows Captain Janeway very well.” Laura explained, purposely leaving out the fact that Tom and his Klingon girlfriend were going to be there.

“Are Megan and Jenny going to be there?” Shelly asked excitedly. She grabbed a couple of the padds on the table and shuffled through them. Laura grabbed them from her, irritated.

She shrugged. “I don’t know if Tom invited them or not.” Laura gasped as she realized she had slipped up. Both Tessa and Shelly gave her a look of surprise.

“Tom?!” Tessa smiled.

Shelly’s face brightened. “Oh.” She gave her friend a look and started humming the tune to ‘My boyfriend’s back...’.

Laura rolled her eyes. “Yes. Tom. He was on Voyager, and now he is back here. On Earth. At the admiral’s house.” She took a breath. “With Casie.” She added quietly.

Shelly rose an eyebrow. “Does he know?”

Laura looked up at her two friends and sighed, abruptly looking away at their hopeful glances. “Unfortunately.”

***

“Do you know my father?” Casie asked as she and Tom made their way up from the ocean and into the house. Tom was speechless. Casie frowned and stopped short of the door. “Do you?”

Tom squatted down next to his daughter and looked her in her eyes. They were blue and it amazed Tom at just how much they did resemble his. He thought. Should I tell her the truth? He nodded. “Yes, I know your father.” Was all he responded.

She accepted his answer and continued into the house. He stared at her incredulously for a moment before walking into the house himself. He found Casie sitting in the middle of the living room, leafing through the pages of a photo album. As he approached her, she spoke softly. “What’s he like?”

“Your father?” Tom asked, moving to sit down next to her. She nodded, gazing intently at a photo of her and her mother that had been taken at her fifth birthday party onboard the Shakespeare. “Well.” He began, not exactly sure what to say. “He’s funny. He’s nice. And leaving your mother was the worst mistake he ever made in his life.”

Casie moved her head around to look up at Tom. “Then why didn’t he come back to me and her?”

Tom let out a deep breath. “He couldn’t. Your mother and he had a very...deep relationship. And on that day that he walked out on her, it hit him that he had hurt her more than anyone ever could and she would never be able to forgive him.”

The little girl scrunched up her nose and closed the album, crawling onto Tom’s lap. “I know that she still loves him. She cries herself to sleep a lot.” She stopped and stroked his cheek with her hand. Tom’s heart leapt at the revelation. “You do still love her, don’t you Daddy?”

The comment hit Tom hard and all he could do was stare at her, mouth open. His heart melted at the term of endearment she had called him and he was left wondering how she could be so perceptive of the entire dilemma.

End Part 5. Go to Part 6.