Raina settled on her sofa with her coffee and a book, having finally convinced Cora and Casey to settle down for the night. It seemed both girls had conspired together to make downtime almost impossible for Raina. Fortunately, Damar had been available for a bed time story.
He quiet time was interrupted by the door chime. "Come in." She called out.
Commander Surmak entered carrying a bottle of something and two glasses. "It's not a birthday if I don't get to share at least one drink with my Captain."
Raina stifled a laughter, as she took the glass of amber liquid that he handed her. "Dilan, what are you wearing?" He stood there with the most ridiculous pyjamas, pink with yellow dots.
"Don't ask, Raina." He sighed, sitting down beside her with his own drink in hand. "Are the girls ok?"
She nodded as she took a sip of her drink. "Corat called to read them a bedtime story."
"Can I ask you something?" He angled himself towards her and rested an arm on the back of the sofa.
"Of course."
"What is the deal with you two?"
Raina huffed out a quick breath. "It's complicated. We love each other, but he's married, and our careers pull us in different directions."
"Is it an open relationship?"
"I'm not entirely sure how to define our relationship. We've never discussed it."
"Don't you get lonely?" He moved an inch closer to her.
"I do, but I've done the relationship thing several times before and it all ended badly." She didn't realise how close he had gotten until she could feel his breath on her face. Dilan was an absolute beauty to look at. He was tall, dark haired, dark eyes and he had a voice like dripping honey.
"What about sex?" He inched his face closer to hers, her lips just a millimetre from his. "Don't you miss sex?"
"I miss feeling loved." She said quietly.
Surmak pulled away, seeing for the first time just how vulnerable she really was. She carried a lot of hurt and mistrust. He wanted to kiss her, but he didn't want to add another burden to the ones she already carried. If he kissed her, they'd have to acknowledge crossing that Captain/Commander boundary and he didn't think she was ready for that. "You have a crew of over 150 people who love you, Raina. You don't need to pretend with me."
"I wonder, Dilan if there's something better out there for me and my girls. I've dreamed of having what my parents had, but every time I think I may have the right man, he turns into a monster. Sometimes I feel like I'm not worthy of love."
Surmak wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. "Can I make a suggestion?"
Raina nodded. "Yes."
"When you see this Cardassian again, find out where you really stand with him. Is there a future or not? If you conclude there isn't, then draw the line in the sand and move on from him."
Raina sat up and dried her tears. "You're right, Dilan. I need a conclusion to that chapter before I can turn to the next one."
"If he doesn't choose you, then he's a fool." He caressed her face, kissing her on the forehead. "Try and get some sleep. Tomorrow's a new day."
The USS Colchester had been diverted from its current mission to run aid to Lissepia. The Dominion had seen fit to attack Lissepians and it didn't make sense to the Federation. Lissepia had always been favourable to the Cardassians, even running trade for them. It didn't make sense for the Dominion to attack them. Raina suspected that there was more going on.
Raina gathered the away team including Surmak, deciding to take the shuttle down to the planet so the Colchester could make an exit if it needed to.
Surmak piloted the shuttle down to worst hit area. When they got their feet on the ground, they saw the extent of the damage.
"Ok, we'll split into teams and head for a quadrant of the city each. Our job to search for survivors and help any way we can. Everyone equipped?"
"Aye Ma'am." They confirmed in sync.
Both Captain and Commander headed off together to search the rubble.
"Captain, I'm getting a single life sign in that building."
"Could it be Dominion?"
"No, scanner indicates a Cardassian."
They entered a building that was barely standing. The sound of crying echoed through the destruction. Surmak pointed the way to Raina and she rush ahead towards the source of the crying.
Raina's heart broke when she saw a small boy sobbing over the body of a woman. She knelt down beside the woman and could see that the woman had been executed. She caressed the child on the head, just letting them cry. After a while, the crying got quieter. "Hey, sweetie. What's your name?" When the child looked up, she immediately recognised him. He looked just like his father.
"Cadim." He said quietly, as he eyed her suspiciously.
"Hi, Cadim. I'm Raina, a friend of your dad." She soothed. "I can take you to him."
"What about my mother?"
Raina looked around at Surmak. "This is my friend, Dilan. He'll look after your mum."
Cadim nodded sadly and allowed Raina to carry him out of the building. "Soldiers came."
Raina could feel the tears welling in her eyes. She knew what it was like to lose a mother in a violent way. "I know, sweetheart."
"Mother hid me when they came. I heard her scream and she….."
"Shhhhhh." Raina held him tight. "Don't think about. Think about all the good times you had with her."
Raina and Cadim transported back to the ship as she wanted him away from that scene as quick as possible. She took him back to her cabin after the doctor had check him over. She had originally planned to go back planet side to search for more survivors, but Cadim had refused to let her go, so Commander Surmak took over the effort.
Fortunately, Cora and Casey seemed to distract him from his sadness. He played with both girls patiently and happily. He naturally queried their obvious Cardassian heritage, but Raina didn't reveal too much information. However, she felt like that he knew more than he let on.. It was Damar's decision to tell Cadim that he had a half-sister.
Once the search operation had finished, a course was set to Vanden Prime, where the resistance headquarters was located.
Raina beamed down to the planet as she had done before. She walked through the base to the main room where several resistance members had gathered. "Where's Corat?"
Rusot turned to her, giving her a look that she couldn't decipher, nor did she want to. "Why do you want to know?"
"I have information for him." She threw Rusot an angry glare.
"He's busy with a woman." He smirked.
Raina wordlessly streamed walked past all of them into the office that he had used. She walked in and saw him on a sofa looking very cosy with a Cardassian woman. "You can fuck off, now." She hissed. At least the question on where she stood was answered.
The woman looked at Damar, but he was frozen at the sight of Raina. "Who are you?" The woman asked.
"Nothing to this piece of shit." Raina growled. "Now fuck off before I break that pretty face."
The woman reluctantly left and Damar stood up. "Raina, I wasn't expecting you."
"Clearly not." She bit. "Back to your old habits I see."
Damar squirmed. "That wasn't what you thought it was."
"Don't insult my intelligence, Damar." She repulsed at how much he sounded like Dukat. "I was planning to ask you where our relationship was heading. In the bin seems to be the answer."
"It was the guys idea; I didn't want any part of it." He muttered quickly.
She bark out a harsh laugh. "You sound just like, Dukat. Never take responsibility for your own decisions. While I'm raising two daughters on my own, you are fucking all the whores Cardassia has to offer. The worst thing about it is, I'm not even surprised. I should never have expected you to be different."
"I haven't slept with any of them yet." Damar shouted angrily in his defence.
"Yet so you clearly had intent." She snapped. "Anyway, your son is alive and well on my ship. You're welcome."
Damar followed her through the base back to the main room, unable to get her to stop. He grabbed her arm and forcefully turned her around. He knew he had gone too far when she looked at him through wide, terrified eyes as if she expected him to hit her. "I'm sorry." He was in a muddle knowing his son was alive.
Raina left quickly, beaming back to her ship, trying to hold herself together before she fell apart in front of everyone. Fortunately, all three children were asleep when she got back to her cabin. She ran herself a bath and climbed in. Within seconds of hitting the water, heartbroken sobs escaped her. She chided herself mentally over and over about how much a mess she was. If Starfleet Command knew of her declining mental health she would be relieved of command and forced into a treatment programme.
Damar had somehow convinced Commander Surmak to let him onboard to see his son and Raina. He hurt her, and stupidly try to blame others for what he had done. While he never even so much as touched any of those women, he still allowed them to come and only he was to blame for that.
He entered the cabin, going into the girls room to check on them. He saw his son spread out and snoring on the spare bed. He wanted nothing more than immediately wrap himself around his son, but he decided to leave him to sleep.
He stepped into the bathroom to see Raina curled up into a ball in the bath. He shed his uniform and climbed into the bath with her and wrapped his arms around her. "I love you Raina and I'm trying to be the kind of man you deserve. I need to know what you need from me."
She rest her head on his shoulder. "I need you to show up when I need you to, like I'll show up for you."
"You saved my son." He moved her so he could look at her properly, caressing her face. "You will never know just how much I appreciate you for that."
A shrill cry from the girls room interrupted their heart to heart. Raina climbed out of the bath and quickly wrapped a robe around herself before going into their room. Just as got to the half open door, she heard Cadim talking to Casey.
"Shush, baby sister." He soothed.
It took Raina by surprise, and she wondered if Damar's wife told him about her and the girls. She walked into the room. "Go back to bed, sweetheart. I'll sort her out."
"Mother and father told me about you." He told her suddenly. "Mother said you'd be kind to me."
"Am I kind to you?" She asked as she picked up Casey to settle her back down.
He nodded as he climbed into bed. Damar climbed in with him to give him a cuddle. "I missed you, father."
"I missed you too, my boy."
At some in the night, Damar had left the girls room and climbed into bed with Raina. She didn't know that he had told his wife and son about her, nor about the girls. He seemed to take it well. Whatever his mother told him must have been favourable. He was a little distant from Raina but seemed to like her and she was happy to nurture that relationship into her parental role if that was needed.