Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Shipwide Side Sim: Catching up with Lucas Holloway

Posted by Colonel Calvin Harris (Commanding Officer) in Shipwide Side Sim: Catching up with Lucas Holloway

Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Shipwide Side Sim: Catching up with Lucas Holloway
Even though Molly’s quarters were just like those of any other officer on board the Dresden, her choice in ‘décor’ was not the most traditional one. To the right, the wall leading into the small dine-in kitchen was lined with multiple unopened crates. To the left, there was a small standard Starfleet issue sitting area — it had a couch, an armchair, and a coffee table. Besides the crates, the only other personal items in the room were a small pile of books that sat on the table, and what looked to be a modern rendering of an old Earth photo album. Among the books were two of Erin’s yearbooks, and piled on top of the album were a few pictures of Erin as well. It looked like a small side project Molly had been recently working on.

Lucas smiled as he saw the yearbooks, he had each of the yearbooks the girls had been in a bookshelf in his home office along with tons of pictures from their childhood and a few others from important moments clearly taken with a telephoto lens. Although Lucas had long ago resigned himself to watching his beloved nieces grow up at a distance, he did his best to keep up with their lives… if even at arms reach.

Alongside the books there was a single framed picture. This one of a happy couple laying on the grass of what seemed to be a park. Lucas would be able to recognize both people in the picture — one clearly being his oldest niece, and the other the Dresden’s CO, Colonel Calvin Harris. Apart from that, everything else in the room was as Starfleet issued as they came.

The air felt caught in Lucas’ throat in the moment he saw the picture, stunned that one of his oldest friends was involved with his niece. He wasn’t… upset… more surprised at this unexpected turn of events. He knew the highlights of Calvin’s romantic past… his lost loves… and was one of a handful of people to know of his fling with now Lt. Colonel Devri Hudson following his divorce from Vanessa.

Walking inside, Molly didn’t wait for the doors to shut behind her uncle. Instead, she stopped on her tracks, turned to her guest, her arms crossed over her chest in a clear defensive stance. “Do you really think you can just waltz back into our lives?” She started in an aggressive tone. “You didn’t bother taking us away from dad when you had the chance, and after we left you didn’t seem too keen on looking for us either.” Molly paused for a second, but resumed shortly not giving Lucas time to respond. “Some of the best times we had were when you came to visit. I thought you were fond of us… it seems I was wrong.” She paced the small hallway as she talked. “And now… I find out that our family owns Holloway Heavy Industries! That you of all people had the resources to search for us! You…” Molly sat down on the couch, her voice cracking. It seemed that suddenly, everything she had bottled up inside for years was finally coming out. She shook her head. “Mom and dad fought about money all the time… after she died…” Molly glared at her uncle as if she had remembered something new. “Hell! Maybe she would not be dead if they weren’t so broke! Maybe dad wouldn’t have gone so hard into drinking if mom hadn’t died in the first place! If he didn’t need a dead end job to single handedly take care of his two infant daughters!” For the first time in her life, Molly found herself almost freeing her father from blame. She had found someone else to place it upon. “You… you could have changed everything… but you didn’t… Why the hell are you even here? Why do you even care?”

Molly

Lucas let Molly vent and get it all out of her system and then, methodically, Holloway responded to each question. “OK, first and foremost…” Lucas began with a sigh, but in a tone that was still a loving, caring one. “… I didn’t fly halfway across the Sector after personally requesting… hell… demanding an injunction from the President of the UFP to keep that lunatic from throwing your ass in prison for the rest of your life under some delusional belief that you would welcome me with open arms. I’m not stupid Gracie.”

Pausing, knowing that her next question was the one that had haunted him for years, Lucas patiently continued. “Don’t think for one second I didn’t want to come for you and your sister… because I did. I have and still do love you both more than you could ever know. I knew you were in San Francisco before you even tried stealing that bread off the cart at the Market. The only reason I didn’t come for you before was the fact I was in Grad School… in dorms… at NYU. I couldn’t have taken you on if I wanted to and certainly never knew Peter was as much of a prick to you girls until he was crying on my dorm room floor after you had left.”

A pang of guilt hit Molly, but only for a second, at the thought of their father in tears over their departure. For the first time in her life, she considered the pain her actions might have caused. But she shook the feeling away. After all, he was the reason why they had left in the first place. And she knew that she had made the right choice. Her brow furrowed slightly as she wondered how did he know about the bread stealing episode… but she let her uncle continue.

He wiped a tear from his eye and pushed on. “Gracie, again, I have never… ever stopped loving you girls… and our days together at Central Park have been some of the best of my life. I’m sorry Gracie… cause you’re right… I should have never left you in that mess and when it comes down to it, it is a shame I have carried all my life.”

Molly remembered those days fondly, and as he mentioned them, a small hint of a smile ghosted her lips.

Then came the hardest topic she could have raised. “Molly, your Grandfather’s personal physician, the doctor that attended to mine and your dad’s birth, beamed immediately to the hospital the night your sister was born and did everything in his power to save Mary’s life.” More tears came as he continued, his voice cracking. “You didn’t just lose your mom, Gracie, I lost the closest thing I had in this world to a sister. Your mother’s loss weighed on every member of the family because honestly… I think dad finally realized the impact of cutting your parents off. It was not something in my power to fix at the time and by the time it was, the two of you had found a great guy that loved you and did a hell of a job with ya both. I did what I could, I blocked any chance your dad might have had to interfere with the adoption, made sure Robert had whatever financial resources he needed to care for you girls, and when time came for tuition… I made sure your schooling fully funded. But we were always there… when you graduated from C.A. Riley, from the Academy… I watched… in person. I have never missed a Bruins event where Erin cheered and when she graduated last spring, I was there too. It was the least a failed uncle could do, be there to watch the two of you accomplish amazing things.”

As he spoke, Molly too was struggling to hold back tears. But to no avail. Her eyes glistened slightly as she understood the lengths that their uncle had gone through to still be in their lives.

Holloway closed his eyes for a moment before adding rather breathlessly. “I came because I care… I came because the President of the Federation contacted me when this mess hit the fan… I came because I have let you down enough in this life and I intend to do everything I can to help. Whether or not you want to ever have anything to do with me or your grandparents after this is up to you.”

Lucas

Questions flooded Molly’s mind and she sat down on the couch. Their grandparents had cut their parents off? Their uncle had been financing all the schooling they had done? Plus, he had been present at every major event in their lives? Molly seemed lost for a second, and Lucas would be able to see it in her frame. “So that’s why we never talked about them…” Molly muttered under her breath as if a sudden important realization had hit her.

Finally, Molly spoke again, almost as if she had regained her voice. “What do you mean, your parents cut my parents off? Does that mean…” He would almost be able to see her thoughts coming together. “… does that mean dad had money too? And that’s why we struggled so much? Why did they cut him off? What did he do?” Anger flashed in her eyes as she spoke.

“The day your father got bounced out of Fordham for poor grades…” Lucas began. “… he came home to find your mother in hysterics. 18 years old… together with Peter for less than six months, and she was pregnant… with you.” Holloway ran a hand through his hair before continuing. “Our father was livid to say the least. Your dad had a pregnancy scare with a girl his junior year of high school and dad told him in no uncertain terms that if he didn’t keep it in his pants and screwed up again, he’d be cut off. When he told them about Mary, common girl from a blue collar family in the Bronx, dad had had it. Although they met your mother several times, they made it clear that they thought they were being childish and the day they found out about you, took them out of their will.”

“If you’ve been at all those events… at my graduation… at Erin’s games… why didn’t you come and say hello?” For a moment, Molly’s expression saddened. “I… we would have loved to see you… why didn’t you say anything?”

Molly’s uncle sighed. “Gracie, don’t think I didn’t want to but…” He took a deep breath. “… by the time you were in high school, I thought it would be… inappropriate… to just stroll in like everything was perfect.”

“As for the funding…” Her face softened. “I had no idea… thank you.” She smiled at her uncle for the first time. Her eyes still watery. Speechless, she walked towards Lucas and, in an uncharacteristic gesture, wrapped her arms around the only family that, in her mind, she had left. As she did so, the interaction took Molly’s mind back to the past. To the days spent playing and laughing with her dad’s brother, and to the last time she had hugged him before they ran away.

Tears flowed from Lucas as he held his niece for the first time in nearly twenty years. It was a moment he had dreamed of and had longed for for so long that if it wasn’t for the seriousness of the visit, he’d have thought it a dream. “You’re quite welcome Gracie.” He said in a soft, cracked voice.

Sitting back down on the couch, Molly smiled briefly, as she pondered on whether to ask the question that had crossed her mind many times during the last eighteen years. With a sigh, she tried to speak as casually as possible. “So… is Dad still spending six nights a week at Mickey’s?”

Molly

As Lucas sat down across from Molly in the chair, the question hit Lucas like a ton of bricks and Molly would see its impact on his face as he looked away and took a slow, deep breath.

“Gracie… honey…” Holloway pursed his lips and then, with effort, pushed on. “… your daddy‘s gone baby.” He looked back at Molly, tears in his eyes. “Peter jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge 17 years ago. It was the night of what would have been your mom’s 29th birthday and a couple days after his lost his job with the Port Authority because of a goddamned failed sobriety test.”

Holloway could barely face his niece. “I…” His voice cracked. “… I’m so sorry you had to find out like this Gracie. Your dad was never the same after you & Erin left. He was a madman in his efforts to find you but… refused to go to the NYPD over fears he’d be arrested on child abuse charges. He had completely quit drinking for a while… totally focused on finding you girls. He even went to dad, who blew him off… for multiple reasons, the first being that by the time he did… Robert had you two and dad thought it best for his grandchildren not…” Lucas’ jaw clinched in anger. “… not to grow up with a loser for a father.”

“Your dad had his vices, Gracie…” Lucas continued. “… but he was a good man that just…” There were tears once more, this time for his lost brother. “… just couldn’t handle the challenges life put in his path. But he did love you girls… very much. It makes me sick to think of the life you all would have had had our parents not been so stuck up. I might still have my brother… and you girls… the family you deserved.”

Lucas