https://www.star-fleet.com/core/stf5/odin/posts/112545/ Original start of the post

Paris leaned against the wall of the hangar waiting for Mason to get done talking to the officer at the desk. She was hot, tired, and irritated. One week ago they were lying in bed excited about the future they were starting. Jumping to the present the air of excitement and adventure had worn off. This was the third planet they had been to searching for Harper. Negotiating the child welfare system of the Federation was turning out to be harder than finding an enemy ship in a nebula with no sensors. Everyone said they had Harper at their facility until Mason and Paris arrived. So far they had found Andorian Harper, Ferengi Harper, and Betazoid Harper but not Harper from the big planet. It took everything for Paris not to just call up the girl. She had been on the verge until Mason pointed out that it would be best for them to show up with the paperwork in hand and not more promises.

The calls and videos with the little girl had become harder and harder to manage. Mason had spent weeks trying to cut through the red tape for them to foster her. He contacted everyone he had ever had a conversation with that could help them along in the process only still had things crawling at a snail’s pace. While this frustrated Paris and Mason, it was starting to also affect Harper. Hanging up was getting harder and harder when she begged for a date as to when she could come live with them. The soft words of soon and we are trying had begun to end the calls with tears first with the little girl and then with Paris.

Paris hated how much pressure was on Mason right now. He had just gotten the promotion of second in command of basically a floating city. This came with so many more responsibilities and stress. She should have been doing all she could to lessen the stress but right now all Paris wanted was their family. Pushing off the wall she walked over to Mason hoping that this time he would have more information than just a different planetary address.

“So babe tell me they know where she is at,” Paris tried to keep the edge out of her tone, “or is all you got was another destination.” It was getting hard not to take out her anger on him. Deep down she knew it was not Mason’s fault but he was the only thing she was able to vent her frustration to and on. The last time they had this conversation Paris completely melted down. This resulted in neither of them speaking for three light years as they traveled to the next destination. The sun beating down on them from the subtropical climate of the planet was not helping either. They were both hot, sweaty, exhausted and hungry.

Paris Caris