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 (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

She harvested the mushrooms and studied them. “Nope, would not know which ones to pick. I bet you anything I’d pick something that resembled something I’d eaten before and it would turn out poisonous.”

“Fungi is complicated to forage for. Basic rule: If you don’t know what it is… leave it alone. Most of the stuff around here is edible, and only a few will kill you outright. But there are enough that’ll make you sick enough you’d want it to kill ya.” Micah said and laughed.

“I’ll leave it to you to point them out then,” Nadine said with a grin.

As they moved along, she was aware of how Micah was looking at the land differently and she quietly observed him for a bit. “Shara seems rather worked up about this meeting. She mentioned it was about the assignment she requested, but the way she’s been talking about it it’s like she’s facing a firing squad. Why the drama?”

~Nadine

Micah shrugged and thought how best to answer the question. “So here’s the thing… your ma and me, we are really good at what we do. Like… really really good. The good thing about that is that gives us a lot of freedom in how we do what we do. The problem comes in when we don’t want to do it anymore. Your ma… she’s asked to come in from the field. No more long term undercover assignments. No more months or years without contact with Faye… and now you. And don’t you go feelin’ guilty about that, either. She made that decision months ago. Anyway… this is where we get screwed. We’re valuable assets… while we are working. When we don’t want to work like that, we aren’t nearly as valuable to our respective overlords. Well, at least thats how they see it. So when she asked for a standard Intel assignment, she’s looking at it as a step towards the beginning of the end of her career. And the powers that be don’t want to lose such a valuable tool. But that’s always the disconnect… to them we’re tools. To us we’re people. So that meeting is about trying to find a balance between her value to Intel, and her desire to be a person again.”

Micah

Nadine took in the landscape was they moved along as she processed Micah’s explanation. “Be a person,” she said softly. Nadine considered the woman she had been getting to know and yes, she could understand how that sort of disposing of self could have happened. Shara seemed to reinvent herself at intervals and she wondered how much of her own true self Shara was even acquainted with. “I’m going to ask a possibly odd question, and I hope you understand what I’m trying to get at, but… why now? why the big confessions and you coming out to see me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extraordinarily grateful for this opportunity, but… she likes her secrets. It seems to me that she created a whole life where I didn’t exist and I get that maybe that was self-preservation. But I guess i”m not understanding what drove this whole reunion. Faye told me about her mental health challenges and I can’t pretend to know much about her disorder, but I guess i could understand if Shara just wanted to focus on rebuilding her relationship with Faye after all these years apart. Why bring me in and complicate everything now of all times?”

~Nadine

Micah chuckled softly and stopped walking, turning to face her. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her right in the eyes.

“First off… you ever say that that woman created a life where you didn’t exist in it again and I will personally rip your tongue right outta your head. You have been in her mind and heart at every breath she has taken from the time she found out she was pregnant till this very minute. And if you can’t see that, you probably need me to yank those eyes out as well because they’re worthless. Second… why now? I just told you. Sha is trying to create a life for herself where she can have you and Faye in it. You lost your mom… that’s a rough one. But you lost your son, too. Now imagine losing two children. And then finding one was still alive? That feeling? That is the feeling that drove her to tell me about you. And I will bet you my metal arm that the reason she told me was because she knew not only that I could find you where she couldn’t… but that I would do it without her asking. I’m like a missle. You lock me on a target and press a button; I’m gonna go after it. She’s doing it now because she has a ‘now’. You? Faye? You are part of her… always have been. Losing you, losing Faye… it put a hole in that woman that will never really heal. But it will sure as hell get a lot smaller.” He dropped his hands and turned and started walking again.

“You may not have known it, and it may still seem weird to you… but you have always had two moms. No matter what.”

Micah

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