Chapter 1

The Enterprise had left Yorktown just over an hour ago and was already back out in deep space. After being stranded there over a few months while the Enterprise had been rebuilt the crew had gotten to see each other in new ways. But for Sulu, it meant he got to spend more time with his daughter, Demora. She had been crushed when he had told her he was going back into space. She missed him, when not in her activities she had spent every waking moment with him, falling asleep against his side on an evening as he read star maps or route plans he's been arranging with Kirk and Chekov for the rest of their mission.

Now they were at Warp with five hours before they were due to drop out of it. Alpha shift were all at their posts when Kirk's communicator let out an alert. "Scotty to Bridge, Cap'n, you might wanna come down here."

"What's wrong Scotty?"

"Just get down here, and you might want t' bring Sulu with you." Sulu and Chekov exchanged puzzled looks at the console and Sulu turned to look at Kirk.

"Be right there Scotty, Mr Spock, you have the conn." Sulu stood and another pilot took his place as he followed Kirk to the elevator. They got off at the warp core and went to find Scotty, they didn't speak, both too unsure about why they were needed.

"Ah, there y'are." Scotty said and they walked and talked.

"Scotty what is it that required both me and Sulu to come down here?"

"We have a stow away Cap'n." He looked to Sulu, "a small stow away," he rounded a corner and Sulu laid eyes on his daughter.

"Demora?"

"Daddy!" Demora pushed out of Scotty's chair and ran up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist which she could barely reach.

"Demora what are you doing here?" He asked pulling her back and kneeling to her level.

"I wanted to come with you, you said you'd take me to space one day."

"I meant when you were older and I wasn't at work. Is there any way to send her back?" He asked, knowing Ben would be going out of his mind right now.

"I don't want to leave-"

"Negative Mr Sulu, we're too far t' teleport her." Demora looked a bit too pleased about that.

"How did you even get on board?"

"I walked, nobody saw me and I hid."

"Hid where?" Kirk asked.

"In a bloody ammunitions pod." Scotty told them and Sulu shot his daughter a stern look.

"That was very dangerous," he told her. "Come on, we have to tell your dad where you are. He's probably worried sick right now." Demora muttered something under her breath but Sulu couldn't tell what it was and took her by the hand leading her to the communication centre shooting Kirk a look of apology.

When he got through Ben looked frantic. "Hikaru, I- I don't know what happened but I can't find-" Sulu held up his hand and signed with his hands as he spoke. As a child Ben had been ill and lost the hearing in his right ear and was partially deaf in his left ear. He wore hearing aids, but Ben and Hikaru had felt it important to teach Demora to sign.

"She's here, she stowed away on the Enterprise."

"Oh thank God," Ben sighed relieved. "I mean she did what?"

"We're too far gone to teleport her back; she'll have to stay here." Ben nodded, still coming to terms with his relief.

"Until you get back?"

"I'm afraid so."

After an hour of talking and making plans for a weekly if not more call and Demora's schooling arrangements Hikaru and Ben hung up. Sulu turned back to his daughter. "First you're going to apologize to Mr Scott. Second to the Captain. Then you're grounded," he told her. She opened her mouth to protest but closed it again at his stern look and just nodded. This wasn't what she'd had in mind at all. They arrived back at the Warp Core and found Scotty. "Scotty, Demora has something she'd like to say to you." He nudged her forwards.

"I'm sorry I hid inside of the ammunition pod. And I'm sorry for stowing away."

"Alright, no one was hurt, just don't do it again. Understood?" Demora nodded. "OK then. Apology accepted." He smiled at Sulu who nodded and lead Demora away and to his room where Kirk was waiting for him.

"I'm assigning you a small family quarters, they're pretty much the same as what you have now but there's a second small room attached to the living space."

"Thank you Kirk, I believe my daughter has something to say."

"I'm sorry I stowed away on your ship Mr Kirk."

"So long as you're OK, you could have been really hurt in there."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, just don't do it again." She nodded.

"I promise."

Inside Sulu's quarters he pulled his chair from the desk, "sit. Don't move unless you're going to use the bathroom." He told her before going about and packing his belongings. Fortunately, there wasn't much to pack as he had unpacked his clothes and gone straight to the bridge before. Demora sat there, watching him and when he was done he handed her a plant in a pot. "Be careful with this one OK?" She nodded and followed him to their new quarters where Kirk had told them they would be staying.

It looked almost identical to his previous quarters, although there was a third room opposite the bathroom door which was for Demora. Sulu went to the replicator and got a children's book. "There's your room, go inside, leave the door open and read. I'll finish moving my things over." Demora took the book, she knew she was in deep trouble.

Sulu remained focussed on moving his things before replicating some items for Demora, he started with clothes and hygiene and finished by getting a couple more books. When he ungrounded her he'd ask for one of the child locked PADDs so she could play games and talk to the other children on the ship and send messages to Ben, but until then she could read and colour. And practice for school which she should have been starting in a few short weeks, but now on the ship would be in just days. He sent an email and enrolled her in the school on board. There were only a few children already on board and the class was nowhere near capacity.

Finally, he filled in the paperwork for the superiors at Star Fleet. Bringing a child on board required lots of paperwork.

He sent the last form off and shut off his PADD. Rubbing his eyes he checked the time, Alpha shift would be over by now, someone knocked on the outer door to the quarters. The doors slid open to reveal Chekov. "Hey, come in," Sulu said turning back into the room.

"I came to see if you were alright, the Keptin didn't offer much explanation to why you were not coming back to the shift."

"Long story," he told his friend, "Demora stowed away on the ship and by the time Scotty found her we were too far away from Yorktown to send her back." Chekov looked surprised. He'd met Sulu's family while the Enterprise was rebuilt, it wasn't like his daughter to do something like that.

"That is very un-her." He said confused.

"Tell me about it, have you been to the mess yet? Mind if we join you?"

"Also why I came to you." Chekov smiled.

Demora's eyes grew wide with wonder as they walked through the ship to the mess, stopping briefly at the Botany Lab so Sulu could water the plants he was growing there which could not be kept in his quarters. She stayed back with Chekov while her dad watered his plants, though she stood on her toes to attempt to see what he was mixing in the water for each plant until Chekov lifted her so she could see. In the mess Demora ate her dinner in the corner, her dad and Chekov sitting close by but talking privately.

"Do you think I should be worried? I mean even you said it's not like her to do this," Sulu asked.

"Hikaru I'm sure she just misses you when you're in space, you miss her." Chekov told him. Sulu considered but shook his head.

"I don't know Pavel, something seems off," he said. "Maybe I should call Ben and ask him how she was before we had shore leave?"

"It cannot hurt."

Later on when it was almost the start of the sleep cycle for Alpha shift Sulu tucked his daughter into her bed. "Daddy, I'm sorry I sneaked onto the Enterprise," she told him. He sighed he knew he was being hard on her and she was young but he needed to see this punishment through.

"I know Demora, but you understand why I'm upset right?"

"Because it's dangerous."

"Exactly, now go to sleep, you're starting with the Starfleet on board school tomorrow, you'll be there most of your time."

"But it's not September for weeks yet."

"Well on the Enterprise you're going to spend a lot of time in class. Mainly because I have to work. Don't worry I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Night sweetheart."

"Night daddy," she said as he kissed her forehead.

He closed the door to her room and sighed. He didn't know what to do. He never really had to be this hard on her, probably because he was away. Ben usually did this type of the parenting. He decided to call him, let him know she was OK. Ben didn't pick up his PADD so he just sent a message before changing for bed himself.