Quarrels and Quibblings - The Captain's Assistant's Solution
By Coral

Mail Me! ~ Story Index

Disclaimer: Everyone together now: "Star Trek belongs to Paramount, lalala..."

Dedicated to the new JCUKjnr group - we do still have places, you know...!

"The Captain asked me to give you this."
Chakotay took the PADD that Naomi Wildman, Captain's Assistant, was holding out to him. He read it with a scowl, and entered a response.
"Take his to the Captain," he instructed her.
Naomi suppressed a groan. Why couldn't they just talk to each other? This must be the millionth time she'd delivered this PADD to one or the other of them. Well, maybe the thousandth. Well, hundredth. Okay, okay, so it was only the 22nd, but that wasn't the point! She rang the Ready Room chime for admission.
"Come," Janeway called, and Naomi stepped in.
"Commander Chakotay asked me to give you this," she recited.
Janeway took it reluctantly, read it, wrote something else in response and handed it back to Naomi. "Please deliver this to Commander Chakotay," she said with a frown.
Naomi suppressed a heavy sigh. 23rd time. She trudged back onto the bridge with the PADD in her hands, wishing she'd never resolved to be the Captain's Assistant. She stopped in front of Chakotay. "The Captain asked me to deliver this," she said. Harry Kim, at Ops, smirked, so Naomi stuck her tongue out at him. Harry stuck his tongue out back until Tuvok glared at them.
Chakotay handed Naomi the PADD. "Take this to Captain Janeway."
Naomi walked back to the Ready Room and rang the chime. For a moment there was no answer, so Naomi surreptitiously thumbed down the document to see what was so interesting. Parameters?
"Come."
Naomi jumped slightly and walked into the Ready Room with a fake smile plastered on her face. "Here you are, Captain," she said sweetly, handing her the PADD, "Chakotay asked me to give this to you."
"Thank you Naomi," Janeway said with an equally fake smile in place as she read the message. Naomi knew it was fake because the message from Chakotay had not been at all pleasant
Naomi was not an unintelligent young girl. Somehow, she had to change the mood of those messages, or she'd be here until the end of the trip. What could she put? "I love you?" A bit blatant, perhaps. "I'm sorry." Yeah, that was better. Naomi's smile grew mysterious as she took the PADD with instructions to take it to Chakotay.
As she walked out the door, Naomi quickly and quietly deleted the Captain's message - something about bathtubs and monkeys - and replaced it with her own. Unable to repress the grin on her face, she handed it to the First Officer, whose scowl now seemed permanently ingrained on his face.
That changed as he read the message that Naomi had written. A smile turned up the corners of his mouth, and the Captain's Assistant heaved an inward sigh of relief as the Chakotay she recognised returned to the bridge. He quickly entered a response and handed it to Naomi.
"Take this to Ka-the Captain, please."
Naomi smiled as she took the PADD, secretly glancing down at what he'd written. "I'm sorry too. I love you." As she waited for the Captain to admit her, Naomi made sure no one was watching, then deleted the 'too'.
She stepped into the Ready Room with a real smile on her face, and handed it to the Captain for the thirteenth time, without saying a word.
"Thank you," Janeway said, taking the PADD and obviously steeling herself for a bad response. As she read a smile crept across her face and soon, she had written a short answer. For the 27th time, Naomi took the PADD.
The half-Ktaran nearly shoved the PADD into Chakotay's hands, she was so excited. She was still delivering PADDs, true, but as least they were being more positive, rather than arguing.
Besides, she had a feeling that Ensign Paris would be very interested in this information.
Chakotay handed her the PADD, and she didn't even wait for his instructions before heading to the Ready Room and ringing for admission.
This time, Janeway took the PADD eagerly, with a soft smile on her face. Naomi couldn't help grinning herself, and had to put her hand over her mouth to hide it. The Captain quickly wrote something and handed the PADD back to Naomi.
Naomi stepped back out onto the bridge and handed the waiting Commander the PADD. He read it quickly and went straight into the Ready Room as instructed, absentmindedly shoving the PADD into Naomi's hands as he went.
Naomi settled herself into the Captain's chair as Paris turned around from the helm and rose an eyebrow. "I wonder what all that was about?" he mused, wondering if anyone had won anything in the betting pools.
Naomi smirked. "I do happen to have the PADD with the messages on here. Bidding starts at five weeks worth of Replicator Rations."
Tom buried his head in his console with a groan.

END