USS Asimov
Side Sim - Portland - Family Reunion... Or 'Pre-Union', As It Were
Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Side Sim - Portland - Family Reunion… Or ‘Pre-Union’, As It Were
Posted by Civilian Micah Pikelsimer (Federation Security Agent) in Side Sim - Portland - Family Reunion… Or ‘Pre-Union’, As It Were
Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Side Sim - Portland - Family Reunion… Or ‘Pre-Union’, As It Were
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻(snip)
Micah grinned and said “Nadine. Nadine Wells. Hang on, you can say hello.” and he muted the comm and walked back inside. He walked up to Nadine and held out the communicator to her. “The woman on the other end of this communicator is your birth mother. Her name is Shara Calloway. She’s also my wife. So be kind. I’m trusting you… don’t make me regret it.” and he unmuted the communicator and set it in front of Nadine. He then walked over and took a seat at the counter; far enough to give her some privacy… close enough to tell if the energy in the conversation went south.
Micah
Say hi? Say hi! Shara made her way over to the couch, sitting before she fell onto the floor or something else entirely embarrassing.
Meanwhile, Nadine’s gaze narrowed in on the communicator as it were the most precious object in the world. Her face slowly contorted as emotion swept over her but she took a breath, breathing deeply. “Hello? Shara?” There was silence and she wasn’t sure what to make of it.
A quiet, no serious sounding voice came out of the device. Direct and yet… cautious. =/\=This is Shara. And you’re… Nadine?=/\=
“Yeah,” she said, listening carefully for the nuances of the woman, her birth mother’s voice. “Well, this is awkward,” she said with a laugh.
A quiet sounded on the other side. =/\=That it is.=/\=
Shara inhaled deeply, her gaze casting itself out of the windows and over the land she could call her home and refuge. “Look, Micha said you were looking for me. It’s the only reason he set this up. I have no right to interfere in your life, and I’m not going to ask for anything. I just needed to know that you were okay. That you… I don’t know, grew up alright or something.” Arrrgh! Why were the words so hard to find? Probably because this person wasn’t an informant or target.
A small sigh sounded. =/\=I’ve had a good life. Hard at times, just like most people, but it’s been good. I’m not alone and they did well by me.=/\=
Tears slid furiously over her cheeks and for a moment she swore she could feel that one tiny worry unhitch itself and be swept away.
The silence this time was longer and Nadine leaned in closer, hoping she wasn’t missing something. There was a hitch in the woman’s breath and Nadine realized that she just might be crying. Ohhhhh. She was trying to piece together the situation from what Michael, Micah, whomever had told her. Wait. Married. Huh, okay, she would deal with that detail later. “So you’re married?”
A sniffle. =/\=Yeah. Widowed, but just recently re-married. Very recently. But… that’s another story.=/\= Nadine could almost hear the smile in Shara’s voice. Like it had flipped like a switch. It was warm, soothing. She liked that voice. =/\=You?=/\=
Nadine folded her arms on the table. “Divorced. Single and happy enough on my own, as it were. I’m a teacher, by the way. Primary. This year I’ve got a fifth grade class.”
=/\=A teacher. Huh. Where are you?=/\=
“Portland, Oregon. You?” Nadine said.
More silence. =/\=Out in Tennessee right now. But normally, well, that’s complicated. It goes with a lot of other stories and details that I don’t think we should get into right now. But I have time. I’m here for two-ish weeks before I ship out.=/\=
Ship out? Starfleet. She bet anything it was Starfleet. Oh wow! She was right all along, wasn’t she? That ship in the Delta Quadrant! Nadine sat back in shock and well, awe too. “Can we meet? In person? I’d like to see you before you go.”
A pause. =/\=I… I think we could do that. I need to talk to my husband though. Can you grab him?=/\=
“Yeah, sure thing. And Shara? Thank you.” Nadine turned and waved Micah over.
~Shara & Nadine
Micah walked over and sat down. “Well… no bloody screams or epithets in Klingon… I’ll take that as a good sign. So where are we, girls? Is this a first step?” he asked to the woman across from him and the woman on the other end of the comms.
Micah
Nadine was smiling, though clearly still emotional. “We’ve agreed to meet.”
=/\=Okay, here’s my thought and either of you can veto any part of it. I say we do it here. Nadine, it’s just Micah and I out here on eighty acres and we have transportation anywhere we need to go, so you can leave anytime you want. But… it’s beautiful here and it’s nice place for quiet and the kind of conversations we need to have. No one rushing us. However, I got a message that the uppers want to have a chin-wag tomorrow, but I told them I’ll do it from out here. Drixton is involved which means a more serious talk and he’s the kind of person who likes to toss the book at people on a whim. Now, admittedly I’ve been a bad girl lately, but it was sort of understood we all would let it be. But in case it’s not, well, they’ll have to come all the way out to Tennessee to arrest me. So win-win in my books!=/\= Shara said with a laugh.
Nadine looked at Micah and mouther Is she serious?. “Uh, I can have a free schedule. I mean, I have school, but I haven’t taken any days off at all this year and I have a great sub so I can clear it with my principal and be somewhat flexible.
~Shara & Nadine
Micah took a breath. He hated the idea of bringing anyone else out to the homestead… but, circumstances what they were…
=/\= Okay. Tell ya what. Nadine, you call your school. Tell ‘em you have a family emergency… not really a lie. I’ll take ya back to your place, you can throw a bag together for a couple’a days. Shara, we’ll stop and grab the piano and then head back. But Nadine, this is my condition. No comms, no messages… no telling anybody where you’re off to. This is the deal. Shara and I, well, we’ve led a colorful life. Certain precautions s have to be taken. If your good with that, we can leave right now. =/\=
Micah