A/N: All the characters in this story are OCs...okay, not all, but most. While it centers mainly on my OCs, there will be the occasional interaction with canon characters. So, please keep this in mind while reading, especially since I definitely don't want to get reviews complaining about the lack of canon characters in this piece of fanfiction.

Also, there is a high possibility that I will only post the first chapter here, unless there is a 'demand' for it. A friend of mine is beta-ing what I write, and as of now I only have three complete chapters, and only two beta'd out of the three. I'm writing this for NaNoWriMo, but since my inspiration comes sporadically, I'll continue it beyond this month.

I do hope you'll enjoy it, though. And if you have constructive criticism (and not out-right flames), I would greatly appreciate it. But the old "like it, please continue" is good, too. But reviews make me happy, and make me wanna write more, so...they're like bribes? :3 Enjoy.

Chapter 01

The smooth sounds of drums, guitars, and the raw voice of the singer hummed in her ears, drowning out the voices all around her, giving her some semblance of peace while being pressed against the window on the 415 bus by the crowd of holiday shoppers. Even with her breathing painful and shuddering, and the charm on her necklace cutting into her clenched fist, Berry knew that she could endure the rest of the trip to her stop. She had to endure; there was no other option, seeing as how she had never learned to operate a vehicle other than a shuttle. After her father was killed in that car accident, she and her mother had never really felt comfortable in the contraptions. Besides, it was the holidays: it was one of the few times of the year when she could make the trip to see her mother on the other side of the city.

Taking another deep, shuddering breath, she went through her mental checklist of all the things she needed to accomplish over the couple days worth of vacation she had scheduled to spend the holidays with her mother. Seeing as how every time they reunited, her mother wrangled her into doing some sort of household maintenance, Berry had been sure to bring along a bagful of tools she might need. Despite her handiness, she often wondered how her mother got along without her taking care of household repairs.

A tap on her shoulder jolted her out of her reverie. Tugging the earbuds out of her ears, she turned to look down at the little girl that sat next to her grandmother in the seat next to Berry. "Hey, lady, your hand is bleeding," the little girl said, holding up several cartoon-printed bandaids to her. Blinking, Berry unclenched her fist and checked it; sure enough, blood sluggishly oozed out of the tiny indents in her palm. She smiled tentatively at the little girl as she took one of the bandaids. "Thank you," Berry told her. "You are a very sweet little girl."

The little girl smiled brightly, turning back to her grandmother, who just chuckled. "You better be careful to not hold on to things too tightly, dear," the old woman lifted her eyes to Berry. "You hold on too tight, you're liable to crush what you hold."

"Err, yea, I'll keep that in mind, thank you," she laughed sheepishly, just as the bus slid to a halt, unbalancing her momentarily. Whipping her head to the front of the bus, she let out a small sigh of relief when she saw that it was her stop. Picking up her bag, she quickly nodded her head to the girl and her grandmother before she pushed her way to the front.

Gratefully, she hopped off the bus and onto the curb. Momentarily, she had the urge to kiss the concrete, but decided against it. Moving out of the way of the other passengers stepping off the bus, she walked briskly down the sidewalk to her mother's apartment building. She'd always wondered why her mother had insisted on living in an apartment while simultaneously claiming to be a modern day hippie. But, she'd long ago decided it was just one of her mother's many quirks, and it gave the aging woman something to do.

Turning the corner, Berry moved into the more familiar neighborhood where she'd grown to adulthood. Many of the buildings were in a perpetual state of being half rundown, but it lent a somewhat odd charm to the people that called the area home.

Passing by the stoop of a brightly painted building, she lifted her hand and called to the men lounging on the steps. "Hey, guys, how're ya'll?"

One by one, they called out their greetings in a friendly, familiar manner. "It's good to see you again, Berry," they pretty much all said. "Going to see your mama?"

"Yup, you betcha," she laughed, continuing on her way. With another wave, she added behind her, "Tell your families I said hi!"

She greeted a few more people lounging on the stoops as she crossed the street to the side her mother's apartment complex was located. While there were plenty of people she didn't know that had moved into the neighborhood in the years since she'd moved to the opposite side of the city, the whole neighborhood still knew her by sight. They were all good, friendly people and protected their own, even against the street gangs that occasionally tried to make the area part of their territory.

Skipping up the stoop, she paused to switch her bag to her left hand to tug open the creaking wooden door. Though the building had a lock, no one had ever bothered to secure the door during the night or at any other time. Once she was inside, she moved quickly up the threadbare carpet stairs, not bothering with the elevator. Once she reached the fifth floor, she moved down the hallway and stopped before apartment 506, and knocked on the door.

Mere moments later, Berry was greeted by the face of her mother, a woman who had looked exactly like Berry in her youth. Now, Cassandra "Celestial" Slater was a white-haired woman in perpetually baggy, homemade clothing, green eyes squinting behind a pair of spectacles that hadn't been replaced since before Berry had been born.

"Strawberry!" Her mother exclaimed, wrenching her brown-haired daughter into a fierce embrace. "Oh, my precious baby girl, I'm so glad you've arrived safely! I just heard on the news that there were some muggings a couple blocks away!"

Grimacing, Berry shoved her mother back into the apartment, closing the door hurriedly behind her. It was no secret that she hated her given name, but it didn't stop her mother from trying to shout it to everyone and their dog. "Mother," she snapped, "You don't even have a TV! Why lie about that sort of thing, huh? You just wanted to shout my real name to everyone and their dog that's listening."

Laughing, her mother gave her another hug, this time not as fierce. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but I really don't see the big problem you have with your name. It was given and chosen out of love, not malice."

Rolling her eyes, Berry moved them out of the entranceway and into the living room, where she tossed her bag into the purple recliner in the corner. "Yea, and it's ironic how I'm allergic to strawberries, huh, Mama?"

Celestial gave a deep, heartfelt laugh, her green eyes twinkling from behind spectacles and crows feet. "Yes, it is ironic, dear," she agreed. "But even so!" She moved forward to tug on her daughter's arm, leading her toward the dining room and kitchen area. "Now, help me think of the menu for our Solstice dinner."

.

Later that evening, as mother and daughter sat in the living room sipping tea and sharing stories of their respective daily lives, Berry fell quiet, just as her mother finished relating to her the story of her neighbors in 508 and 504. Normally, Celestial would have just prattled on about another subject, but the aging woman could feel the tension in the air surrounding her only child. As different as they were, they were open with each other about anything and everything that they experienced, be it love, sex, money troubles, or what have you.

"Sweetie, if you have to tell me something, you'd better say it now before it eats you alive," Celestial murmured over her mug of tea. Her daughter didn't even look surprised that she had guessed that something was troubling her.

With a sigh, Berry leaned forward and set her mug of tea on the coffee table in between the two of them. "Mama..." She let out another sigh. "I was contacted by a Federation official the other day."

Blinking, the aging mother leaned forward and set her mug on the coffee table as well. "You don't work for the Federation," she said lamely. "You work for a pharmaceutical company."

"Yea, I know," the younger woman sighed, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "They wanted to know if I would be interested in a ... well, in a once-in-a-lifetime position in one of their projects."

"Well, if that doesn't just beat all! What kind of project?"

"..." Berry buried her face in her hands. "Mama, what was the concentration in my area of study back in college?"

Celestial blinked, momentarily confused. "Xenogenetics, why?"

"Specifically?" She prompted, looking at her mother with worried green eyes from between her fingers.

"Vul---...oh."

"Exactly, Mama," Berry said, moving back to slump in the recliner. "The official said that while looking for people to work on the project, they came across my term paper from back when I was getting my doctorate. They read it, and, well, suffice to say, they want to enlist my aide in the repopulation of the Vulcan race by cataloging the remaining Vulcan genetics in order to create the best pairings to avoid genetic defects."

Her mother held up her hand when Berry paused, as if to catch her breath before moving on. "Don't tell me the specifics," she sighed. "Just... Please, sweetie, just get to the point? Such an endeavor is very admirable, so what is the reason you didn't jump at the opportunity?"

Biting her cheek, Berry paused before she answered. "I have to live on New Vulcan for the duration of the project," she said finally. "And given the number of Vulcans left, I may have to live there for upwards of ten, twenty years, maybe more. I wouldn't be able to visit you; the project would keep me busy, even through the holidays, and I just don't know if it would be very good of me to leave you here on your own, especially since the place is practically falling down around your ears every time I come home--"

"Strawberry Sunshine Slater." Berry quieted as her mother looked at her sternly. Green eyes were devoid of mirth, amusement, and were all seriousness. "You have the chance to help repopulate an entire race. You have the chance to work closely with the same race that your own father was obsessed with."

Berry inhaled sharply at the mention of her father. Though she only vaguely remembered the man, she clearly remembered all his excited talks about his acquaintanceship with the alien race, and his study of their language and culture. It had been something father and daughter had bonded over, and a passion Berry had carried on since.

Celestial continued. "I may be getting on in my years, sweetie, but I am nowhere near deaths door. Besides that, Betty on the sixth floor has a son that's an out of work handyman; I could always hire him to keep up the maintenance."

"Mama..."

Taking up her mug again, the aging mother settled back into her seat. "When you go back to your fancy apartment, I want you to call up that Federation official and tell him you accept the position. You can always call me on a comm if you miss home, you know," she smiled, winking at her daughter. "I've always been meaning to get me one of those things, after all."

Tears welling up, Berry resisted the urge to leap across the coffee table and pull her mother into a fierce hug. "Mama, thank you," she said instead, taking back up her own mug of tea. "And I'll head out with you tomorrow to get you that comm for the Solstice. I'll bet you'll put it off otherwise, until I have to call the landlord to insist he get one installed in your apartment."

They shared a laugh, both knowing that it was true. Though the atmosphere was much less happy, it was still comfortable to them both. At least, Celestial decided, that they would miss each other while Berry was off on New Vulcan. Though they would be separated by however many lightyears, their love for each other would span that distance in no time at all.