Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. But if I did…
A/N: Warning! Slight child disciplining in the chapter. Shock, horror! It's not too bad just a small pat on the leg, really.
Nine more chapters to go.
Reviews are like elevators; the higher the number, the better the view. Please, don't send me to the basement. I WANT THE PENTHOUSE!
Origins: The Journey Begins
Chapter 21: One Heart Felt Moment
STARDATE: 2236.160 (Thurs, June 9th, 2236) [Six Weeks old]
It had been a long day for Miotep. It had been exactly six weeks since the birth of the twins and Miotep thought it was about time she did something about the baby fat she had hanging off of her. She had started going to a mother-friendly gym; where they allowed mothers to exercise with their young children nearby.
The boys had gone to school, Nanenna was at daycare and Ahadi had to take care of some business at the office. Miotep was left with the twins. She happily showed them off to her friends at the gym. The women at the gym cooed while the men offered their congratulations.
It was now in the afternoon. Ahadi had picked the kids up on his way home and was currently dragging them through the front door. He had Denahi on one leg, Sehale on the other and Nanenna on his shoulders with her small, chubby hands covering his eyes.
Once she had saved her husband from their children, he kindly relieved her of 'twin watching' so that she could go and have a quick shower. After her shower, Miotep was standing in front of the basin in the ensuite. It wasn't a bit ensuite. It consisted of a black tiled shower, a toilet and a small basin. It wasn't huge; just enough space to manoeuvre about.
She was placing her rings back on her fingers when one of them slipped out of her grasp and vanished down the sink. The golden filigree ring was woven into an intricate pattern and right in the middle was a large silver diamond.
Miotep had been given the ring on the day of her wedding. Ahadi's mother gave it to her. It was said that the ring had once belonged to the very first Pharaohs' wife, and had been passed down through the generations.
Ahadi was presented with a similar ring. Only his ring belonged to the Pharaoh himself. Ahadi's father had given it to him. His ring had the same pattern only in silver, and instead of a diamond he's had a golden topaz.
The rings were to signify Pharaoh and his wife; the divine rulers of Egypt. The man would wear his ring, known as 'Pharaoh's Ring', on the middle finger on his right hand, and his wife would wear her ring, known as 'The Queens Ring', on the middle finger on her left hand. So when Pharaoh stood with his wife on his right side, their rings would be facing each other.
The ring. The Queen's Ring. The most important piece of jewellery she owned. Down the drain.
"Shit." She exclaimed loudly as she came out of the ensuite.
She looked up to find her husband gazing into the large crib by the bed. He must have put the twins down for their afternoon sleep. They were small enough for the time being to share the same crib.
"What's wrong?" He asked, watching the anger flash across his wife's face.
Miotep couldn't help herself. Yes, she had a dilemma on her hands, but even in a situation as dire as this she couldn't pass up the opportunity.
"I'm pregnant. Again."
"Wait, what?!" Ahadi's attention was captivated. He swung away from the crib to face her properly. "Are you sure?" He added.
"I told you we should have waited. We only had to wait only six weeks, but you insisted." She said, doing extremely well to hide her mirth.
"Hey, you didn't complain!" He retorted loudly.
At his loud outburst, the twins woke. They were on the verge of tears when Ahadi turned to soothe them.
Miotep promptly burst into a fit of laughter, causing Ahadi's head to whip back in her direction.
"You're joking aren't you?" He asked hopefully.
"Of course." She managed to say through another round of giggles.
"I'm confused," Ahadi confessed.
"I lost The Queens Ring down the drain." She said flippantly.
"YOU WHAT?!" Ahadi ran into the ensuite. Miotep casually followed.
Leaning up against the door frame Miotep crossed her arms. "I'm not entirely sure," she began sarcastically, "but it sounds to me that you're more worried about The Queens Ring more than me being pregnant. Hypothetically speaking, that is."
"That's because we're good with kids. We can do kids. The Queens Ring, however, is an ancient Egyptian piece of jewellery that dates back to the first Pharaoh. That's my family history, and it's literally, down the drain."
"It's okay, 'hadi. It's most likely in the u-bend. All you need to do is check the u-bend."
"Mio, it's not that easy." Ahadi's muffled voice came from within the cupboard under the basin where the u-bend in the pipe was.
"Not that easy, eh? And you think kids are easy? Well, next time you can give birth."
"Hopefully, there won't be a next time." He said as he pulled his head out from under the cupboard and sat up.
Miotep was about to retort when she was interrupted by a slap on the bedroom door. It definitely wasn't a knock. Someone was using the palm of their hand to literally slap the wood of the door.
Denahi would knock and Sehale wouldn't knock at all. It must be Nanenna. Miotep concluded.
"Nanenna?" Miotep called from inside the bedroom.
Nanenna had only just turned three, three days ago. Her sentences still didn't make much sense but she was using more and more words. If you let her, she'd talk your ear off.
Miotep thought back to when Denahi was three. Ahadi had given him a small acoustic guitar. When Sehale turned three he demanded that he have a guitar. Instead, Ahadi thought that a drum kit suited Sehale's personality better.
So when Nanenna had her third birthday she asked for a triangle. Ahadi burst into laughter while Miotep tried to explain to her that triangles weren't the best instrument to learn musical skills.
It turns out Nanenna only wanted the triangle because it was a shape of a triangle. Her next request was a tambourine. Just because it was in the shape of a circle.
Miotep tried to get her to show interest in the piano, but because it had no definite shape (in Nanenna's eyes), she didn't like it.
Miotep asked if she would like the flute. Nanenna's brown eyes went wide with awe as her mama pulled out her own silver instrument and began to play.
So it was settled. Nanenna would learn to play the flute. She took her flute everywhere she went. She even placed it carefully in the empty bathtub while she attended to the toilet. Ahadi had found the flute in the bread basket in the pantry once… or twice.
"Mama, can't open." Nanenna muffled voice came from the other side of the door. The handle was high up on the wooden door. Far out of reach for the three-year-old.
A scraping sound could be heard on the wood of the door.
"Nanenna! Don't use the flute!" Miotep cried as she ran towards the door. She opened it quickly, knelt down and began to inspect the instrument in Nanenna's hands.
"Nanenna what have I said about this?" Miotep asked she motioned to the instrument now lying in her own hands.
"It not a toy," Nanenna said softly.
"Do you always have to have this with you?"
"It mine. Not boys. I keep it wif me."
"I see. Why do you have it with you now?"
"Play for my girls." She said confidently and strutted into the room.
Ever since Miotep had returned home with the twins Nanenna had referred to her newborn sisters as 'her girls'. Ahadi and Miotep didn't want to correct her as they thought of it as a term of endearment. In fact, they encouraged it.
"Nanenna you've had the instrument for three days." Miotep chuckled as she followed her unusual daughter back into the room.
Ahadi had come out from the ensuite when he had heard Miotep yelling something about the flute. Ah, Nanenna. He thought.
Nanenna came to the crib where the twins were currently lying, now wide awake from Ahadi's outburst moments before. She paced in front of the crib looking for a way to climb up the side of the crib and play for 'her girls'. She decided to pull out the small storage drawer from under the crib and stand on that to get better height. It was a good idea, especially for a three-year-old, but she was still too short to see over the edge of the crib.
"Baba, up." She said confidently as she noticed her Baba moving over to stand with Mama.
"You better do it, 'hadi. She wants to play for her girls." Miotep said seriously.
"Is it safe?" Ahadi asked even though he had approached his daughter.
"Are they awake?" Miotep asked.
Ahadi leant over the white crib and saw two sets of dark brown eyes staring widely back at him. He gave them a wide grin and answered, "Wide awake."
"Why don't you take them out and put them on the bed?" Miotep suggested before disappearing into the ensuite to examine the u-bend.
Ahadi took his wife's advice and carefully picked up the tiny twins. Sliding his large hands underneath each twin he carefully lifted them up out of the crib, one small baby in each hand. He balanced them skilfully before gently placing them on the soft mattress of the master bed.
The twins were in diapers with matching pink socks. They wore no other piece of clothing, leaving their chest bare. This also made it easier to distinguish which baby was which.
Nanenna watched her Baba place both of her girls on the bed. She squealed with laughter waving the flute high in above her head in joy.
"I play now," Nanenna said. She placed her flute carefully on the bed before hoisting herself up onto the bed, using the wooden frame of the bed to assist her.
She rolled onto the bed with a high pitch giggle. After positioning herself so that she was at the feet of the twins she leant over and grabbed the flute from the edge of the bed.
Nanenna had seen her mama play the flute on stage in front of many people. She wanted to be just like her mama, so why not start now.
"First song is called 'tinkle, tinkle little star'." Nanenna looked down at the twins to make sure they were watching. They, indeed, were watching, but they more interesting in the long, shiny, silver thing in her hands.
Satisfied that she had the attention of her audience she brought the flute to her mouth. She paid close attention to her fingers, making sure that they were correctly placed, just like mama had shown her. However, instead of resting the flute gently near her lips, she encased the entire opening within her mouth.
Ahadi, who was also on the bed, brought a hand to his mouth to hide his smile.
Instead of trying to blow into the flute, Nanenna started to sing, loudly. "Tinkle, tinkle little star. How I won-der what you are."
Her voice was slightly muffled considering she had the head of the flute in her mouth. Ahadi dropped his hand and chuckled, earning him a superb impression of the 'mama bear glare' from Nanenna. Miotep must have taught her that. Ahadi pondered while he tried to wipe his face free of his smile. He got up off the bed slowly making sure not to disturb his daughters, and made his way to the ensuite. Miotep has to see this.
Nanenna continued. Only now she withdrew the flute from her mouth and started to wave it about in the air as she sang, "Up a-bove the world so high, like a dia-mond in the sky." She got right into the song, bopping to every beat, conducting herself using the flute.
She pointed the flute at Zantiri, who almost went cross-eyed trying to look at the flute pointing at her face. "Tinkle, tinkle little star."
She then switched babies, now pointing the flute at Nyota, "How I won-der what you are." Not realising how close the flute was to Nyota's face, Nanenna finished her song with emphasis, hitting little Nyota in the face.
A loud cry filled the room and Nanenna nearly jumped out of her skin from fright.
Both Ahadi and Miotep came running from the ensuite. Miotep ran towards the twins while Ahadi's instincts kicked into gear, he scanned the room searching for any abnormal behaviour. His eyes fell upon his three-year-daughter she had retreated to the head of the bed, her flute lying on the pillows at her feet.
"She's bleeding, Ahadi!" Miotep called. She was sitting on the edge of the bed cradling the crying infant in her arms, shushing and cooing to soothe the distressed child.
"Who?" Ahadi asked and came to stand near his wife, looking down at the twins.
Miotep checked the chest for the birthmark. "Nyota."
Ahadi leant closer to inspect the young baby. There was blood. Nyota's bottom lip had been cut. It didn't look too bad, not worth going to the hospital. Nanenna must have hit her pretty hard to draw blood. "That's merely a flesh wound."
"That's exactly my point. Flesh wound." Miotep retorted as she gently rocked the baby in her arms.
"She'll be fine. She's an Uhura." Ahadi said using his thumb to lightly graze across his daughter's small lip. It was swelling rapidly but the blood was beginning to cease. Bruising was inevitable. It will most likely show in the coming days.
"Nanenna! What happened?!" Miotep yelled. Nanenna wasn't even sure, all she knew was that when mama yelled like that someone was in very big trouble. This time, it was her. Why? What had she done? Nanenna promptly burst into tears.
"You scare me." Nanenna gasped, filling her lungs with air before letting out another wail.
Ahadi went around to the other side of the bed where Nanenna stood and sat down next to her, bringing her into his lap.
"I'm sorry, Mtoto (child)," Miotep said while she shifted herself on the bed. Nyota had stopped crying. Miotep placed her next to Zantiri. "I didn't mean to scare you, Sweety." She opened her arms and motioned for Nanenna to come to her.
Nanenna slowly walked over to her mama. Miotep hugged her eldest daughter tightly and placed her in her lap. "Can you tell me what happened?" She asked a lot calmer.
"Her ran into my flute."
Miotep laughed at this, which made Ahadi laugh, which made Nanenna laugh. Eyes turned to the twins. No smile. Five weeks and they still hadn't smiled.
The door suddenly burst open causing everyone to jump in fright. Seven-year-old Denahi ran into the room crying loudly, hands covering the side of his face. Tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Baba!" He cried loudly, scanning the room for his Baba, squinting his tears away to clear his blurry vision. He saw his desired target and approached him. As he came to a halt at his Baba's feet, Sehale ran into the room with drumsticks in hand.
"Sehale Masamba Uhura! You put those sticks down right now!" Miotep shouted at her youngest son as she watched him run into the room. Sehale jumped at the sound of her voice. He was about to protest when he saw the famous 'mama bear glare'. He shut his mouth and dropped the sticks.
"Picked them up." Miotep seethed. She was not in the mood for cheeky children.
Sehale was confused. She just told me to drop them, and now she wants me to pick them up? Sehale picked them up and looked to his mama for further instructions.
"Put them on the dresser." Miotep pointed to the dresser behind Sehale. Sehale did so. Once the sticks were placed on the tall dresser he came to stand near his Baba. Scowling at his brother while he waited.
The boys lately have been fighting a lot more. Miotep thought it had something to do with the arrival of the twins. Ahadi brushed it off at first but after witnessing a few fights for himself he came to agree with his wife. The boys were definitely competing for attention.
"Sehale hit me across the face with his drumsticks." Denahi whimpered, taking away his hands to allow his Baba to inspect the damage. It was nothing really. Denahi's skin was too dark to even register where he had been hit.
"Sehale." Ahadi's voice was low and strong.
"Baba, it was an acci-" Sehale's speech was cut off.
"—Did you hit him?" Ahadi asked.
"Yeah, but-"
"What's the rule we have about hitting?" Ahadi questioned his second son.
"Don't do it… unless we have to." Sehale added the last part.
Ahadi knew that Sehale added the last part to the rule and internally fought to hide a smile. "Leg." Ahadi managed to say, now quite serious.
"Oh, no," Sehale grumbled but lifted his pants to expose his leg to his Baba.
Sehale was a troublemaker right from the get go. Ahadi learned quickly that a smack on the bottom was not enough. Considering Sehale was still in diapers and all it did was cushion the blow. A quick hit on the back of the leg did the trick. Quick and not too harsh, but enough to teach the children what was wrong.
Ahadi brought his hand down quickly on the back of Sehale's leg. It wasn't too hard and Sehale just fixed his pant leg up and sighed. It obviously didn't affect him anymore. He was quite used to it. It even got to the stage where Sehale would get smacked and then he'd automatically apologised without the need for prompting. However, this time, he didn't apologise.
"Alright. I don't like the way you boys have been behaving lately. Mama doesn't like it either. So until Monday next week, Sehale won't be able to play his drums-"
"-No!" Sehale protested.
"And Denahi… uh…" He looked over at Miotep for help.
"Won't be allowed to help cook dinner," Miotep added, knowing full well how much Denahi enjoyed cooking and baking.
"But, Baba-" Denahi began to tear up.
"No, 'buts'. Sehale I need to use your arm." Ahadi thought of a great idea, but Sehale's face was full of fear. "I need your help" Ahadi added. Sehale looked slightly relieved.
Ahadi took Sehale into the ensuite and moments later, Sehale sported a fancy looking ring on his finger. It was far too big for him, but that didn't stop I'm from showing it off the others.
"I did it! I got the ring! I helped Baba." Sehale exclaimed in triumph. Denahi, who was lounging happily on the bed, bolted upright and stared at his brother.
Denahi got off the bed and walked over to where his brother was. "Can I have a look, 'hale?" Denahi asked gently.
"I got it. I have a turn first, okay." Sehale answered.
"But you've had a turn." Denahi retorted, trying to grab the ring off of his brother.
Sehale shifted his body away from his brother, covering his ringed finger with his other hand. "Not yet, 'Nahi. It's still my turn."
The twins on the bed simultaneously started to cry.
"Give the ring to me," Ahadi spoke and held his hand out. Sehale put the ring in his Baba's hand.
"My girls are sad. Stop it, boys. Boys, stop it." Nanenna said as she climbed down the bed and came between the boys. The boys stopped arguing and just stared at their sister.
"Say sorry," Nanenna said as she eyed the boys. Ahadi was dumbstruck. Nanenna was becoming more like Miotep every day.
The boys looked at their Baba. Ahadi nodded. The boys looked at each other and said their apologies.
"Now hug," Nanenna ordered. The boys did so. Ahadi was secretly smiling at his wife, who was still on the bed.
"Kiss my girls better," Nanenna said as she pointed to where the twins were sniffling on the bed.
The boys quietly came to the bed Denahi was in front of Zantiri and Sehale was in front of Nyota. In sync, the boys bent over and placed soft kisses to the cheeks of the twins. As the boys stood back from the bed, Miotep noticed the twins faces.
"Ahadi, quick, look!" She pointed to the twins. Ahadi came running over. The boys shuffled to see what was going on. Nanenna came to the bed to see what all the drama was about.
The twins were smiling so widely that their gums were showing.
"They're smiling!" Denahi announced.
"Their first smile," Miotep added.
"Good job boys," Nanenna said as she gleamed with pride.