She breathes deep, through the panic, and finds only elation.
The phone hung limply in her hands when the receptionist hung up. She was numb. An acceptance. Acceptance. Acceptance!
She placed the receiver on the wooden floor beside her, staring about in abject wonder. In matter of days, she'd be boarding the Enterprise bound for galaxies unknown.
The enormity suddenly occurred to her. Mechanically she made it to her feet, and padded down the dark corridor.
'Mom,' she said, pushing her parent's door open. Her mother looked up, alarmed, from the clothes she was folding.
'You alright, Cal?'
'Mom, they accepted me. Starfleet accepted me. For the Enterprise. I'm a nurse aboard the Enterprise.'
She was so giddy she barely felt her mothers arms enclose around her. She giggled aloud, and didn't even consider how strange the sound was … coming from her of all people.
She merely closed her arms around her mother too and hugged her with every shred of thanks alive in the nerves of her fingers. Winona, the only person in the wake of that tragedy who had stood a little ways off and said 'I know you don't believe me now, but one day you'll go back and it will be everything you dreamed of.'
After all, Winona knew something about tragedy. She held her daughter tight, so tight that the golden curls tickled her face and for just a moment before delight and pride could crow, her stomach dropped as separation loomed. But her little girl laughed, and Winona was vindicated.
Was it terrible that Jim didn't even realise it?
It was, he realised, months later, in the comfort of his own quarters, with more than a trace of ruefulness. Actually, it was really, really terrible. If it had been any other kind of situation (tactical, military) he would have made the connection at once. Connections, after all, were his thing. But then again, this wasn't any kind of military affair. This was a family affair, and that alone was the cause of his confusion. It was really appalling, actually – the blinkers he had when it came to Cally. If any of his crew had been like, 'Yo, captain, I want to have a rave on the bridge, maybe invade a few peaceful pre-warp nations, maybe experiment with a cocktail of recreational drugs and made a good old fashioned Satanic sacrifice,' they'd be in the brig in instants.
But if Cally had said it, he would have been like, 'Sure thing, you want the chair? You can have the chair. Do you have enough money, or livestock to sacrifice to Satan? Do you have some LSD?'
Because in a way, he'd sell his soul to make her happy again, and he didn't give any kind of shit what price he'd have to pay for it.
McCoy's phone call didn't connect in his mind in any way with the new smile on Cally's face, this new placement, this new pride. He just glowed right alongside her, feeling the same satisfaction she had when he received his captaincy. How she had come to be employed on the Enterprise didn't even enter into his thought process. Who had hired her – it didn't even register.
And it wouldn't, for months and months and months, until he'd made all kind of regrettable comments to Bones, but then again, hindsight was a wonderful thing.
So Jim didn't realise that his kid sister had been hired by his grim-faced, hard drinking best friend. Didn't realise she was that nurse. Didn't think twice about the vile remarks he made to Bones. Was that really so bad?
Oh, it was terrible; he knew that, now. An image of her smiling in her uniform sprang to mind, though. Hard at work alongside the man himself. Content.
Yes, it was awful …
But Goddamn it, if her smile wasn't worth it.
A/N: This is just a bit of a shlyyyy short chapter before Part 1 comes to a close in a chapter or two ...
Thanks to my lovely crew of luvvies, Cuckoo on a String, Rolodex Thoughts, and Mickey Monroe for the reviews and encouragement, 'tis only lovely! Thanks also to Anon22, just look at you, being all complimentary and lovely! Guh! I'm so overcome. Happy to clarify for you, and glad you like the switching POVs! :D HURRAY! Thanks also to Happy Reader (isn't that the cutest little name ever? Come on. It is) for your review! I'm like, delirious with joy that you like Cally, and find yourself 'hooked'! :D Thank you so very much!
Okay, okay, so Cuckoo - get this. Here is a dream that I had about two months ago, after seeing an episode of the original Star Trek series on tv.
So I had a dream where I was on the Enterprise and Kirk had fucked up and we were all gonna die and I was like, 'Oh, hell, no,' so I grabbed Spock (Leonard Nimoy in his youth Spock) and I was like, 'We're going to the spa, bitch' and when we got to the spa it was all weird and bright, and then this family came along and we ended up awkwardly talking to them trying to pretend that we weren't in any way involved with running the ship or doing important Starfleet things - and then it turns out we had made it back to earth but only Spock and I had managed it, and the whole population of the Earth had turned really stupid and everything was kind of run down 70's style, and slightly Russian Communist - and there were bonfires on the streets, and I made a friend who we had to follow around because Spock sucked at pretending to fit in, and my friend was kind of like a junkie but very helpful ... so I offered to buy her this brown taffeta dress but she didn't want it, so we went shoe-shopping instead, (still trailing Spock behind us) and I marvelled at the expense of second hand shoes. And that was my dream.
HONEST TO GOD.
Anyway, thank you for all the new follows and reviews and interest, keep up the excellent work of telling me what you think, you gems. :)
