Posted by Civilian Micah Pikelsimer (Federation Security Agent) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home

Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home

Posted by Civilian Micah Pikelsimer (Federation Security Agent) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

A soft chuckle rolled in her throat as she walked with him, glad for the fresh air. One might assume that with a career as long as hers that she was used to the recycled and filtered air of artificial environments, but they were usually forgetting one key factor: she was a covert drop. She had of course spent time on stations and outposts, but the majority of her work had taken place on habitable planets and she was there long enough each time to get used to the particular taste of that air and the smells on the breeze. She was a colony girl at heart and lived and breathed the outdoors. and so it would always be.

“I know very little about my ancestors. Never bothered to go looking really. Though I’ve wondered a bit about my mother’s family. Apparently there was a long line of musicians and artists. It’s in the blood.”

~Shara

“Let me know if you wanna look. I have connections.” and he looked back at her and winked.

Sh gave him a really expression. He had connections? So did she. If she wanted to go digging, she could. She just never felt a strong desire to. She hadn’t had roots in a long time, though if anything was changing, it was that.

It took the better past of an hour, but they eventually reached the top. There was a clearing, obviously man-made, and Micah stood in the center with his hands on his hips looking around. He then looked at Shara.

“Ok… so in this direction -” and he faced north, “- if you count three peaks over, thats the north side of the property. West and east is four peaks either way. South is two. Property lines are a square, more or less, so you can get a good idea of what we have.” He stepped back a few paces and let her take it all in.

Micah

Shara stepped up, adjusting that guitar on her shoulder, and swept her gaze along the lines her had laid out and nodded. “It’s beautiful,” she said, her voice hushed.

Turning she seemed cautious almost. “Want a confession? I don’t belong to places. I tried, especially on Tracken. I really did! But I can’t belong to a place. Edward though, he felt it in his bones that Tracken was where he was meant to be. I was happy there, don’t get me wrong, but I stayed because he was happy there and I really did want something better for any child of ours than I had had on Midos.” It sat there on the back of her tongue: a simple statement. And yet it couldn’t come forth. Was it fear? Did she fear condemnation? Reprisal? Whatever the reason, she didn’t continue and just turned her gaze back to the mountains and valley she could call a refuge.

~Shara

Micah looked at her and said “And? There’s a ‘and’ in there somewhere, I can hear it. Don’t worry about it, Sha. You can tell me anything. Promise.” and he gave her a minute before saying “And this place… we don’t really belong to it. We are it’s guardians… it’s caretakers. We are here to partake of it’s bounty and beauty… but to make sure it’s here for the future. Hell… maybe someday there’ll be light green, well-muscled, super smart kiddos running through these woods.” and he smiled as he looked out over the mountains.

“Yeah… I’d like to see that, I think.” and he smiled.

Micah

And it was then that she sniffled and her eyes watered. Her first impulse was always to hide tears- tears made people uncomfortable so often, even her own to herself. It wasn’t weakness, but Intelligence trained vulnerability out of its agents over and over again. They were unbreakable and extremely fragile if you hit just the right point. But this was Micah. He understood all that. He understood her fears, her darkness, the nightmares. He understood. And still it was so hard to speak the words. Gravity pulled her to the rock until she was knelt down her hands flat on the rock, her guitar swinging to her side.

“Faye’s not my only child!” she exclaimed before bursting into uncontrollable sobs.

~Shara

Micah stood, open mouthed, for almost a full minute. Finally, pushing through the shock, he knelt down beside his wife and moved the guitar and put his arm around her.

“Easy, hun… easy… shhhhhhh…” he said softly, gently rocking her with his own body. He didn’t press, didn’t talk… he just let her cry. Finally he said “And here I thought waking up married was gonna be the show-stopper for the day. Way to up the ante, hun.” and he half-smiled at her.

Micah

Shara laughed through her tears, and that simply act of humour allowed her to catch her breath and calm herself a bit. “Wasn’t planned, I swear.”

Resting against Micah, her breath was still catching but it slowly was returning to normal. “It shouldn’t even matter. I mean, no one knows. No one has ever known. Not even Edward. And I’m legally not allowed to reach out, even if I knew where she is or even who she is. But then all this talk of families and weddings. I just…” She shook her head.

Looking up at Micah, sadness filled the space where the tears had been. “I was sixteen, Micah. Living with my twelve year old brother and my emotionally abusive alcohol father. My boyfriend didn’t want a baby and I didn’t know what to do. So I ran away. I left Midos and didn’t look back. I told myself that after I had the baby and gave it up for adoption that I would go back. But… I couldn’t. It was too much, too hard. I never went back. Gavin’s never really forgiven me for that and I don’t blame him.”

“I tried,” she whispered. “I tried to be her mom. I made it a whole month, but… I couldn’t do it. It was too much, too hard. I had no one, anywhere, so… I gave her up. Closed adoption. I have no legal status as her mother and I am not allowed access to her record. If she wanted to find out who I was, she was allowed when she turned twenty. I’m sixty-four. You do the math.” She looked over the vista, and the huge varied land that seemed to reflect her ever battered heart. She had spoken truly that day Micah asked her if she had regrets. She didn’t regret giving up the baby she had named in her head Lila, but that babe had left a hole in her she could never quite fill.

~Shara