Jon was tired and his head was spinning, he finally had some peace and space to clear his head. He had enjoyed his day, particularly getting to know his son, but his daughter, well there was where the problem lay. After getting a clean bill of health from Phlox, Steven had insisted on the grand tour. His son's knowledge astounded him; Catherine had been right, he was an A grade student, the things he didn't know about warp technology weren't worth knowing and several times Archer had felt ashamed at his inability to recall the fine details his son could. The three of them, Jessica included, had eaten dinner in Archer's own quarters, he and Steven had chatted merrily, but Jessica had merely sat there in silence, gazing sadly down at her plate. Archer had tried to instigate conversation with her a few times, but to no avail, he was either met with grunts of acknowledgement or complete silence and ignorance. Even when Steven had spoken to her she had failed to respond.
The Captain's door bleeped, "Come in." He called. Trip entered.
"Hey Cap'n, just thought I'd pop by, see how the big day went."
Archer rested his head in his hands, "Trip I have no idea how today went. I have a great son! Steven is a wonderful kid, but Jessica...... I know I need to be patient; I was warned she wasn't going to be easy to get along with and her mother has just died and I've completely uprooted her life and brought her here. I mean did I do the wrong thing? I had the best intentions, but is that enough?"
Trip looked at his friend sympathetically, "Cap'n, you're gonna be a great dad, I mean Hell just look at the way you've bonded with your son!"
"Trip, I'm out of my league here! Who did I think I was kidding? I don't know how to be a dad! I drag two children away from their friends, their home, everything they know and expect them to just adapt up here, being tutored via comm. Links and computers, no other children for them to interact with! Maybe this was a bad idea, but I can't change that now! I can't just let them meet their father, spend a little time with him and then pat them on their heads and send them back to New Berlin to live in a children's home! It would cripple Steven and I don't think Jessica would take too kindly to that either. Although I doubt Jessica would take kindly to anything! Oh Trip, I made the wrong decision and now there's nothing I can do. What am I going to do?"
"You haven't made the wrong decision, you were in a tough situation and you did what was best. I know the crew have given you a lot of stick, but personally I admire you! You did the right thing; you stepped up to your responsibilities when the easiest thing to do would have been to walk away! Now no one said this was gonna be easy, Hell I lived with a teenage girl for a long time and man they are hard to figure out! But, you will get past this; you just need to be patient! D'ya want me to try talking to her? I kinda know how the female teenage mind works; Liz was a nightmare herself at the best of times."
Archer looked at his friend gratefully; they had a long history of friendship together and he could trust Trip more than he could trust anyone, even T'pol. At that moment though, he felt a great swell of pity for his closest friend; Trip had never quite recovered from the death of his baby sister and now here on his door step he had the closest thing to a substitute; the difficult daughter of his Captain. He looked into the younger man's earnest blue eyes and smiled, "Thanks Trip, I really appreciate all the help I can get!"
In her quarters Jessica lay curled up on her bed; she hated this whole situation, space travel was not the life she wanted. She missed her friends. Her mother had always called her friends a bad influence, they were older and they drank alcohol but Jessica had enjoyed that lifestyle; she had really been able to be herself. She needed a drink more than ever right now, it wasn't that she had a problem, she rarely drank every night, but she felt she needed something to numb her senses, take her mind off her situation, or more accurately her location and make her feel closer to her friends again. She missed her boyfriend too; eighteen year old Hugo, he was artistic, cool, a painter who spent most of his time opening his mind with various substances and painting the most amazing canvases. People termed him a hippy; claimed his behaviour was very 21st century but she was besotted with him. There was a large difference in their ages, but to her it didn't matter; she knew she looked older than 14 and she hadn't bothered to correct his assumptions that she was 16. She closed her eyes and conjured up a picture of him in her mind, his floppy black hair cascading over his deep brown eyes. Jessica smiled to herself briefly before remembering that her chances of feeling his lips against hers again were remote because she was stuck on a bloody star ship! Who the Hell wanted to spend their time in space anyway? It was just full of darkness and stars and nothing bored her more than being on a star ship, she knew this after only spending the last 6 hours on one.
Jessica leaned over to her handbag and took out a retro hip flask containing vodka and took a swig; that was better, the warmth radiated down to her stomach, soothing her. It wasn't too long before she had finished the entire flask and her eyes blurred with the pleasant sensation of intoxication. Suddenly she felt the best thing for her to do would be to leave her quarters and explore the ship; she wasn't used to being in bed early nor to spending her evenings alone; company is what she craved and any company was better than that of her geeky brother. Standing up, wobbling slightly, Jessica crept, dressed in her pink vest top and shorts pyjamas and left her quarters.
In his quarters, Steven sat up in bed reading one of his new books on astrophysics; his heart was set on being just like his father one day, a great captain of a star ship, designer of his own ship, he even had a name for her, Trinity, after a great 21st century scientist. The day he and Jessica had been told that Captain Jonathon Archer was their father had been one of the happiest of his life. He was deeply saddened by the death of his mother; they had been very close, but Steven was extremely optimistic in his nature and despite his grief he viewed the changes extremely positively; today was the first day of the rest of his life! This was it; he had an opportunity to realise his dreams and to experience life on an actual star ship!! No one, not even Jessica could ruin this for him, he was over the moon (quite literally) and keen to learn as much as he could. Being the son of a great Captain could only serve as an advantage to achieving his future ambitions. So absorbed was he, in his reading, that he failed to hear his sister leave her quarters and head off down the corridor.
Archer and Trip remained in Archer's quarters talking, reminiscing about old times and trying to work out ways of getting through to Jessica. They had been talking for a good few hours when Lieutenant Reed's voice appeared over the com.
"Reed to Archer"
Archer went over to the panel and pressed the button, "Go ahead."
"Captain, we have a..... Situation in the mess hall, we need you down here well..... now."
Archer frowned and looked at Trip, "Apparently there's a situation in the mess hall, would you like to accompany me?"
As Archer entered the mess hall he was astounded at what he saw and at first was rooted to the spot open mouthed. Jessica was being restrained by Hoshi and Reed; Reed was holding the girls arms behind her back whilst Hoshi was trying to sooth her, stroking her hair, asking her to calm down. Jessica however was in a blind rage and the mess hall was..... a mess. Smashed glasses and bottles were scattered everywhere, angry crew members were shouting at the officers and his daughter. As he entered the room however everyone fell silent, everyone except Jessica.
"Get your bastard hands off me!" she was screaming as Reed held her fast.
"What is going on here?!" Archer cried as he approached his daughter.
"Long story, Captain." Reed said, struggling slightly against the girl's vicious struggles; whoever said women were the weaker sex were wrong!
"Jessica came down here about half an hour ago, started propositioning some of the younger crew members, they were uncomfortable and felt it was inappropriate so I stepped in to stop her and all Hell broke loose." Hoshi claimed.
Archer could see the Hell; he had his first task of the havoc his daughter could wreak. He stepped towards the girl and could smell the alcohol on her breath,
"Have you been drinking?" He cried disgustedly.
"So?" she replied, looking him straight in the eye, well as straight as she could look. Her blonde hair flopped over her face, her make-up was smudged from the tussle and right now Archer had never felt so disrespected, ashamed or embarrassed in all his life. Trip stood behind his commander, his arms folded. His own sister had been a trial at times, but this was new territory for him, the girl was clearly unruly and out to cause as much trouble as she could.
Archer turned to Reed, "It's ok, let go of her." Reed complied and stepped back as Archer stepped forwards, grabbing his daughter tightly around her right wrist, he could feel her pulse racing there in anger. The girl squirmed in his grasp and screamed piercingly, "Shut up now, or will seriously regret it!" Archer spat through clenched teeth. He turned to his crew, "Clean this mess up, my daughter and I have some things to discuss." With that he turned and pulled his daughter out of the mess hall with him.
"Argh stop, please! You're hurting me." She whined all the way to her quarters. Archer opened the door and roughly pushed her in first. He couldn't remember ever feeling this angry.
"What the HELL was that all about?! You can't just come aboard MY ship, proposition MY crew members like some, some, some......" Archer thought for a moment and his rage took over again, "WHORE!" He sighed, regretting that one instantly for a moment but the defiant look in his daughters eyes enraged him once again. "And you've been drinking?! What the Hell? You got anymore on you Jessica? What do I have to do? Search your stuff? Don't look at me like that! You are a CHILD and I am an ADULT; your FATHER and you are going to do as I SAY and toe-the-line; have I made myself clear?"
"You're NOT my Father! I don't HAVE a father! I don't have to do anything you say. You are NOTHING to me!" She screamed at him right in his face. At that point Archer could see how Catherine had lost her temper enough to hit the child. He stepped back, calming himself down before he was tempted to do the same; no matter how angry he was he was never going to raise his hand to the girl.
"Jessica, you are stuck on this ship now whether you like it or not! Believe me I am not liking this, not one little bit! You are as much of a nightmare as I had described to me! I should have listened to your aunt and stuck you in a children's home!" Once again Archer regretted saying that as soon as the words left his mouth. Jessica stood looking at him open-mouthed. She took a step back and fell onto the bed. Archer wasn't sure but for a second he thought he saw tears well up in her eyes. Before he could do anything his son stormed in.
"So that's the way yyyyou really feel is it?"
"Steven wait,"
"No!" His son cut in, "Yyyyour as bbbad as everyone else! Yyyyyou dddddidnt even ggggive her a chance! And nnnow we know yyyyyou dddddon't want either of us hhhhhere. Yyyyyou're just wwwworried about what the mmmmedia would mmmmake of the gggreat Captain Archer sssending his children into a hhhome!" Steven was overcome with emotion, tears freely rolled down his face and he stuttered getting his words out. He had suffered from a stammer since he was a small boy, with therapy he had overcome it but when he was very angry or upset he lost control. The boy went over to his sister and put a protective arm around her. Taking a deep breath he said calmly, "I will take care of her from here and mmake sure she ddoesn't go anywhere."
"Steven,"
"With all ddue respect Captain, my sister needs to sleep this off, wwe can ttalk in the morning, right now is not the tttime. Wwe all nneed to cool off."
Archer raised his hands in defeat and left their room, he trusted Steven to ensure there were no more nightly trips. He felt awful, he had said a lot of things he didn't mean. He should not have lost his temper like that; he had known Jessica would be badly behaved and should have been prepared to deal with it. She was clearly doing everything she could to get on the next shuttle back home, but Archer wasn't going to give up on his kids that easily.
In Jessica's quarters Steven was pulling his sister into her bed.
"Why Jess? Why are you determined to ruin everything for us?" he whispered to her. "I know this is hard for you, it's not easy for me either, but please Jess, please try. For me." He wiped a loose tear from her cheek. She nodded at her brother, suddenly feeling more delicate. "Are you feeling ok?" He asked her, frowning in concern.
"Not really." She shook her head.
"I'll get you something to eat, hold on." Steven got up and made for the door.
"Please," she cried, "Please don't tell him." Steven nodded in agreement and left her quarters. He pushed the buzzer to his father's quarters and entered at Archer's command.
"Steven?"
"Jessica needs something to eat to sober her up; I was wondering if you could arrange that?" Steven said; his face deadpan.
"Steven I am so sorry, I said a lot of things I didn't mean. Of course I want you guys here; I want to get to know you. You sister.... she's hard work, it's no excuse I shouldn't have lost my temper, but I am not used to being disrespected in the ways I have been tonight."
Steven sighed, "I know. I know you didn't mean it. I've seen people get angry with Jess before, she can bring out the worst in people, but you have to understand, things aren't as easy for her as they are for me. She has good reason for being the way she is."
"I'm listening."
Steven sighed, feeling guilty he was about to betray Jessica, "Jessica isn't just lazy at school; there's a reason she doesn't get the grades I do. A reason I feel guilty about every single day."
Archer looked confused.
"Jessica has learning difficulties, bad ones, she used to try at school but I don't think she has ever passed an exam in her life. She's not retarded, she has had IQ test after IQ test, she's very bright, but she just can't learn things and it's not her fault.... it's mine."
"I don't understand."
Steven took a deep breath, "When we born, there were.... complications. A few days before we were born, mum told me, we were both in the normal position, our heads were both pointing towards the birth canal and I was slightly ahead of Jess, ready to be born first. Mum was scanned a lot around this time because she had something called pre-eclampsia; high blood pressure in pregnancy. She was on hospital bed rest. Anyway at some point I decided to turn around so that my feet were facing the birth canal and as I did so my umbilical cord twisted around her neck. This wasn't a problem until mum was in labour, as Jessica started to come out the cord tightened round her neck and labour was halted. She stopped breathing and mum was given a caesarean section to deliver us both together. Her heart rate had fallen very low and it took the doctors a while to get her breathing again. They believe that the damage her brain sustained during those minutes has been permanent. Her IQ scores are so high there is no other explanation, she can understand information and problem solve but she cannot retain the information or utilise it. If it wasn't for me, Jess would be as smart as me and she wouldn't have been living in my shadow. Everyone hails me as Steven Archer, boy genius, and her as Jessica Archer, the bad one, the one who can't match up to her perfect brother." Steven spat the last part. "After a while she gave up trying all together. She does the things she does because she's frustrated, she is smart but can't use it and she gets bored. She also resents the world and me for the way she is."
Archer nodded feeling a great swell of sympathy for his children, especially his little girl. A lump formed in his throat; he had said some terrible things to her.
"Steven, it wasn't your fault. You can't blame yourself, you were an infant, you didn't know what you were doing." He put his arm around his son.
"I know that! But it doesn't stop me feeling terrible. If that hadn't happened, Jess would be more like me and not how she is. That is why I will put up with anything from her. I love my sister more than anyone,Jon. Nothing is going to change that."
Archer again nodded, feeling nothing but admiration for his son.
"Please, I really need to get Jess some food."
"Sure, I'll come with you to the mess hall, we can rustle her something up together."
