Chapter 2
The next morning, as work continued on preparing a room for the crew's subspace calls from home, Harry was sat in the mess hall with Tom and B'Elanna.
"I just don't know what I'm gonna say to them"
"How's about you start with hello?" suggested Tom.
"But I'm not their Harry, remember, I'm not the one they raised and I'm certainly not the Harry that first came aboard this ship"
"They don't need to know that just yet, besides, everything about you and him was exactly the same up until that incident, wasn't it?"
"I suppose so, but I do want to tell them eventually, I'll just leave it until I see them face to face, and I know I will - one day"
"Good idea, hey, afterwards, do you wanna go to the holodeck, I made a new Captain Proton"
"Sure, and thank you, both of you"
"For what?"
"For being here, I needed someone to vent to"
Several hours later on the bridge at 13:55, the Captain went over to Harry's station and said "Well then Mr Kim, are you ready?"
"Yes Captain"
"Let's go, Chakotay, you have the bridge"
A few minutes later, they arrived at the specially prepared room, and after Harry had insisted on waiting in the corridor to give her some privacy, the Captain went inside the room and saw that it had been furnished with a large view screen, and, next to a comfy looking chair there was a small console. A minute or two later the hail came in, and upon accepting it she was amazed to see her boyfriend Mark on the screen.
"Mark!"
"Kathryn, hi"
"How are you?" he asked.
"I'm ok, what about you?"
"I'm good, I don't know if you know this, but I got married, she's great, but I thought you were dead for the longest of times, I had to move on, I'm sorry, but I am happy that you're alive and safe"
"It's ok, really, and I did know, I got your letter a couple of years ago"
"Okay, but tell me, what happened in the Badlands?" asked Mark.
"This, ... entity, known as The Caretaker, he transported us to the Delta Quadrant, he was dying and thought we could look after a race called the Ocampa, who he had sworn to protect".
"Sounds dramatic"
"You don't know the half of it, we've seen so many things new planets, new cultures, it's been amazing. How are my family?"
"Your mom, Phoebe and Shannon, they're all fine, as for what's been happening here, not much really, except for the fact that we were at war with the Dominion for 2 years, thankfully it's over now".
"Sounds like you've had a dramatic time in the Alpha Quadrant too"
"Yeah, we have, oh and I have something to tell you"
"What is it?"
"I really don't know how to say this, but Mollie died, I had to have put down a year ago, she was very ill, there was nothing I could do, I'm sorry".
"It's ok, really, at least she didn't have prolonged suffering. What about the puppies?"
"She had 6, 3 of each, there was: Toby, Jack Bruno, Daisy, Lola and ... Roxy" said Mark, picking up a beautiful Irish Setter from the ground.
"Hello Roxy. They let you bring a dog into Starfleet?!"
"Yes, I was surprised myself".
"We don't have long left".
"I'm sending you some messages from your family, and I was told to say that Shannon's drawn you a few pictures and that they love and miss you and are sorry they couldn't come".
"Tell them I love them and I miss them too"
"Will do, bye Kathryn"
"Goodbye Mark"
The call then ended and after a moment she left the room and told Harry he could go inside and that he was to say hello to his parents from her.
End of Chapter