Chapter 10 – Believe

- California -

Miral gently lifted the curtains to one side and peeked out the front window. Under the long shadows of the redwood, she could see Joaquin out there, arms crossed over his chest, talking casually with one of the reporters.

She let the curtains fall back into place. So she'd given them what they wanted, a sound bite or two—a chance to show the entire Federation a grieving Miral, a worried Miral—and that was all she could do.

She knew she had responded to their questions, but she didn't remember her own words. She had distanced herself, and wouldn't have believed she was standing there under their bright lights and microphones if Joaquin hadn't been at her side supporting her the entire time.

When the interview was over, he'd led her back into the house and murmured into her ear, "You've done well, Ladybug." And he'd remained outside.

She felt exhausted. The emotional peaks and valleys she'd been through had taken their toll on her physical strength. She turned away from the window to go lie down, but she saw that there was another message on her machine. She wondered if she should turn it off, she could get messages all day from well-meaning friends and family, when all she really wanted was to be alone. She quickly went through the message list, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw that the new message was from her mother.

It was news. It had to be. Her heart raced as she played the message.

Joaquin waited as the last of the news vans backed out of the Paris' gravel drive. He'd watched them pack away every camera, and made sure that Miral wouldn't see another hov-cam near her home, at least not until she was ready.

When the last van disappeared around the bend in the road, he had to smile. Miral had shown them how strong she really was. She had changed a lot in the last four years since he'd been away. She wasn't a kid anymore. Even though she hadn't wanted to speak to reporters, she'd done the right thing, and he knew her parents would have been proud. He had to admit he was proud of her himself.

He turned and walked back up to the house.

Everything was quiet when he went in, almost too quiet. "Miral?" he said after a moment. "Where are you?"

"Over here." Her voice sounded muffled. "On the couch."

There, in what he had at first mistaken for a pile of pillows, lay Miral, curled up in an afghan the same color as the couch. He went over to her.

"I think I'll just die," she moaned.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the couch beside her. "I thought you did a great job with the reporters. I was talking to one of them. He said you gave them exactly what they wanted."

"Terrific. Wonderful. Bravo." she replied, not moving.

Joaquin detected a definite shift in her mood since she'd come in. She seemed to have spiraled down. He leaned over her to look at her face. He could see she hadn't been crying. She was well passed that now. "What's happened?"

"I got a message from my mother," she said with a sigh. "Over there on the machine." She flicked a finger toward the small comm by the door. "I can't take anymore."

"What did she say? Have they found your dad?"

"You can go listen to it yourself. I can't talk about it." She plucked up a fat blue pillow and put it over her head, shutting herself off from the world. "I'll just lie here until the universe comes to a quick and fiery end."

"That won't be for billions of years."

"I can wait."

Miral didn't say another word to him. She seemed to want to be alone, so Joaquin backed off. He did listen to the message though.

Dr. Torres was very tough, Joaquin remembered well. He could never get away with anything at their house when he was young. Getting trapped in one of her lectures on honor was punishment enough to make him want to behave himself.

She had that same toughness in her expression when she'd made the message for Miral, but he could see the strain she'd been under on Onari, and it hurt her to have to give her daughter such awful news. They hadn't found her father yet, she'd said, but they were close.

How long did it take for a message to get from Onari to Earth? Sometimes hours, sometimes days depending on the level of chatter on the subspace relays. He glanced back at Miral still curled up on the couch. She probably realized it too. By now, her dad must have been recovered—alive or dead, and she was just waiting to hear the news.

To lose someone like this—it was just too painful to contemplate. He thought of his stepmother Annika back home, and his sister Erin—his little sweetheart. If anything were to happen to them…

He looked at his watch. Chakotay had said he would be by in an hour or so, it would give Joaquin some time to come up with questions for Captain Kim on their voyage back to Aristarchus.

He quietly went over to the couch. Miral had fallen asleep. He tucked the covers up over her shoulder and pulled the pillow away. Her face was calm and peaceful and she drew long restful breaths.

Miral had proven her own brand of toughness today. Joaquin knew she could handle whatever life threw at her.

"Your universe won't end, Miral,"he said softly."You'll see."

Miral awakened to low voices. When she opened her eyes, she saw long orange shadows on the carpet. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Had she slept the day away? She looked back over the couch. Her eyes stung from the glare of the kitchen lights.

"Uncle Chakotay," she said, blinking and pushing her hair back from her face. "When did you get here?"

He was sitting at the breakfast bar talking with Joaquin. She got up from the couch to go to him and he met her halfway. He wrapped his arms around her, giving her a big bear hug.

"I've been here for a little while," he said releasing her. "Didn't want to wake you."

"You should have."

His face grew solemn. "We haven't heard anything new about your father," he said. "I wish…" but he stopped, and shook his head.

A wish seemed like such a fragile thing in light of all that had happened, but Miral knew what he wanted to say. "Is it true you're leaving tomorrow?" she asked. She wanted to break the awkward silence, but maybe that wasn't the best way to do it.

He returned a pained look and glanced over at Joaquin who shrugged a shoulder. "I'm leaving tomorrow," Chakotay said.

"But why? You only just got here."

"We're having some problems at the colony. I came here to resolve some of them, and now I have to go back."

"That's a simple answer. You're keeping something from me," she said, a bit put off. "Joaquin—he's been holding back too. I have my own problems right now, but I still have eyes…I can see it in both of you. Something bad is happening on Aristarchus. I may have been a child the last time you were here, but I'm not anymore. I'm practically eighteen now. I don't need to be babied. I can handle the truth."

Joaquin, who had been leaning on the bar, pushed back and gave Chakotay a shrewd look. "Told you," he said. "Can't hide anything from this one."

Chakotay returned a slight smile. "I know." He took her hand and rubbed a thumb over the back of it. "You are grown up, Miral. The years go by so fast, and sometimes I have to be reminded of these things. But in light of the circumstances, I think it's best we wait until we hear news of your father before I worry you about something else you can't control. I think he would agree with me."

She looked at Joaquin. He seemed a little disappointed too, but she resolved that when she got him alone, she could wheedle it out of him one way or another. "Alright," she said, "If you really think so—"

The kitchen comm bleeped and Miral straightened.

It was by Joaquin's elbow, and he checked the caller i.d. "It's the admiral." He looked up at them. "She said she'd call if she heard anything."

Miral walked around the counter and stood in front of the comm unit for a second. This was the news she'd waited for…

She punched the button. "Admiral?"

"Miral," Kathryn Janeway said. "Are you sitting down?"

Miral looked back at Chakotay, and he started to smile. He seemed to sense good news. Miral's heart raced, and she felt lightheaded. "No, Ma'am. I—I'm standing…"

"I just got the news—they've found your father!"

Miral blindly reached a hand out and felt Joaquin clasp it in his. She couldn't breathe. She felt her knees go weak.

"Miral?" said the admiral.

"She heard you, Kathryn," Chakotay said. He was bringing a chair around for Miral to collapse into. "When did they find him?"

"A couple of hours ago," she replied. "He's back aboard Venture."

Miral eased into the chair and Joaquin still held onto her hand as if he would never let go. "Is he alright, Admiral?"

"I spoke with Fleet Command. Chakotay can tell you, getting any straightforward information from them is…well, tricky to say the least. They tell me that he has suffered some injuries, but they didn't have the details yet." Janeway paused, "Your mother is with him and they have the best doctor in the fleet on that ship."

"But Admiral—"

"He's alive Miral!" said Janeway. "That's what you need to focus on. Your father is alive and he's safe!"

Miral looked up at Joaquin. He squeezed her hand and smiled.

"Everything will be all right," he said.

At that moment she believed him.

- USS Venture -

Everything will be all right. That's what she'd told him when he was able to stay awake for more than a few minutes. B'Elanna was at Tom's side when B-4 explained what had happened to him and in short what they needed to do to restore his shoulder and reattach his arm.

Tom, still drowsy from the medications and barely able to move, didn't seem to care about that. His memory was still vague and he asked again about Nanishia. B'Elanna steeled herself and told him again as best she could that Nanishia had died. There was nothing they could do for her.

The first time B'Elanna gave him the news, Tom had simply nodded and closed his eyes, but this time, he asked to see her.

"Tom," B'Elanna said, not knowing how to put it. "Her body was sent back to Onari. Her government wanted her back immediately. I'm sorry."

He squeezed his eyes shut. "Oh, god, B'Elanna…" he said, his words were broken in his anguish.

B'Elanna clasped his hand tightly between hers. His pain pulled at her heart and she wanted to ease it, but only time could do that.

"Everything will be all right," she murmured, but she found it very hard to believe.