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 Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Makes me wonder why she never went and became a musician. I mean, she’s got the talent in spades. Hell, you could hear any of the stuff she plays in a concert hall. I know many people who’d happily listen to her play.” Nadine watched from the kitchen entryway, leaning slightly on the frame. Again, seeing her play was like seeing a glimpse at some different… no, not different. A piece of her maybe? An unguarded portion of Shara that others were allowed to witness in only these moments. There was a softness to the woman that otherwise was hard to find.

Shara finished the piece and her fingers hovered over the keys as she breathed deeply. Lowering her arms, she turned on the bench and got up, only to find Nadine watching her intently. It wasn’t that she was audience adverse, but a lot of the time she had played by herself to herself and for herself. It was odd to have someone else listen again. Not bad, just… odd. “I have photos for you,” she said as she moved over to the coffee table and scooped up the loose photo and the packet.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. You can look through these and any you want I’ll make sure you have copies of to do with what you will,” Shara said as she took her seat at the table.

~Shara & Nadine

“You girls sit. Breakfast is ready.” and Micah came to the table with a plate piled high with French Toast and another with bacon. “Eat up. We have chores to do today. Larder is getting a bit low. House wasn’t set up for three people. So we have to go ‘shopping’ today.” and he grinned wickedly at no one in particular.

Micah

“Dare I ask what that entails, oh Secret Agent Man?” Nadine asked wryly.

“Oh, probably raiding the neighbours,” Shara said as reached for the bacon. “That’s likely what the horses are for.” Nadine knew Shara was teasing and yet she couldn’t help give her birth mother a skeptical look.

Shara slid the photo she had gazed at for a long time last night to Micah and then gestured to pass it to Nadine, so they could both see. Shara was very young, a teenager, in a vibrant purple strapless dress with her hair piled on her head in a mass of curls. Beside her was a boy in a formal suit with dark hair, caramel colouring and intense eyes. The difference in the photo compared to other of Shara? She was smiling. No, grinning. “School dance, wasn’t long after that that I found out I was pregnant. Kind of clichéd, but that’s what happened,” she said before crunching on the bacon.

~Shara & Nadine

Micah looked and then simply sat and ate. He watched the two women carefully, but inside he was a man in immense joy and pain. Joy for Shara… for Nadine and Faye… joy for seeing this broken unit start to become at least more aware of what it was if not actually functional. Pain for knowing the intense pain it took for all three of these women to get where they were now. Pain for knowing that the hard parts were still to come… when the anger and resentment bubbled up as it inevitably would. But all he could do was keep a watchful eye and make sure that when it happened, it was addressed properly…

As a family.

Micah

Nadine cut off and ate a bite of the french toast and popped it in her mouth before she picked up the photo. Holding that image, she studied the pair, especially Curtis. They were impossibly young and when she thought of herself at that age and tried to put herself in their shoes… and she couldn’t. It was that hard. Could she have had a baby and then be forced to give it up? She didn’t know. But Shara’s position she could understand. His… well, that was a different story.

A flicker of annoyance passed over her face before she set the photo down away from her and dug into their breakfast.

The meal passed with idle chitchat and Shara immediately moved to start cleaning up in the kitchen. Nadine took the packet of photos over to the sofa and begun to gently flip through the stacks she pulled out.

“I need to go get ready shortly, but I figure I’d take the call in Vanessa. Just easier and then you both don’t have to listen to one-half of an argument, even if mine is the more colourful side,” she said with a smirk to Micah.

~Shara & Nadine

Micah waved her off. “I figured as much. Me and the girl’ll go to the store while you crawl up an Admiral’s keister. Meet us at the swimming hole at 1300. Bring lunch.” and he looked at Nadine. “Memory lane’ll be here when we get back. Time to earn your keep, step-daughter-‘a-mine. Shed out back. Grab the two knapsacks and two walking sticks. Packs are kinda heavy. I’ll go grab the gun from upstairs.” and he nodded once and then almost bounded up the stairs.

A few minutes later, he came down in dark green cargo pants, heavy leather boots with a thick rubber sole, a camouflage long sleeve shirt and carrying a rifle. Shara would know it instantly. Betrakarian AZ-1100. Very rare. Very well made projectile rifle. And exceedingly accurate, but only in the hands of someone who was well-versed in how to shoot it. And that was a category almost no one outside of the Tal-Shiar, Klingon Imperial Strike Force, and the Obsidian Order could boast of.

“Ok, let’s go to the store.” and he chuckled.

Micah