Friday began ordinarily enough. Due to her babysitting assignment, Kathryn had been excused from her afternoon classes in order to take charge of young Annika at one in the afternoon when her parents' shuttle took off.
At 1300 hours, Kathryn and Annika waved goodbye to the departing shuttle as it took off and left Earth. Once the shuttle was out of sight, Kathryn held out her hand for Annika to take. "So, what do you wanna do today kiddo?"
The young girl simply looked up at her older friend and smiled, not sure how else to answer. No one had ever asked her what she wanted to do they always just told her what she was going to do. She had been expecting Kathryn to do the same.
Kathryn lowered herself until she was at eye level with her young charge and asked, "come on now, there must be something you wanna do right? Somewhere you want to go?"
Annika thought about it, there was one place she'd heard of but had never been to, her parents were always too busy and they never trusted anyone else with her. Displaying a grasp of the English language that other children her age could never claim, Annika said, "can we go to a park Miss Kathryn?" She was fully expecting Kathryn to say no but she'd asked anyway.
Kathryn realized how unnatural it felt for a 4 year old to be calling her Miss anything so she said, "Annika, why don't you call me Katie? And yes, we can go to the park. Come on."
Annika smiled brightly, she'd call her anything she wanted her to if it meant she could finally go to a park.
The rest of the day was spent playing on the swings and slides in the park. Annika had never had this much fun in her entire life. By the time the sun went down, Annika was sure she'd finally found a friend.
Kathryn had played with the abandon usually found in four year olds. Being Annika's only friend, Kathryn had gotten right down to her level and played with her new friend. Most babysitters would sit on a bench while their charge played but, not Kathryn. Something about Annika brought out the child in the normally serious 18 year old Starfleet Cadet.
Once the sun started to set, Kathryn told Annika it was time to go home. Though reluctant to leave the park, Annika soon brightened when Kathryn promised they could visit it again before the weekend was over. Heading home, Kathryn asked Annika what she wanted for dinner.
"Katie can we have McDonalds'?" The fast food restaurant had previously been forbidden by Annika's parents who were adamant vegetarians. However, Annika's mother had given Kathryn permission to let Annika have anything she wanted...within reason.
Kathryn smiled down at the young girl, who had obviously read her mind since she was craving a Big Mac and fries. "You got it kiddo, let's swing by there then take it home and watch a movie ok?"
Overjoyed, Annika simply nodded and smiled. Kathryn and Annika spent that evening in Kathryn's private sitting room watching old movies from the 20th and 21st centuries... mainly Disney movies in deference to Annika's age, and of course Kathryn's secret preference to animated, musical movies. It was one of the happiest nights either girl could remember having in a long time.
