Chapter 6: Wish You Were Here

Nicole ended up taking the nearest transport to Earth. Her mother thought it was best for her to be with Adam, Mary Ann, and their two goblins Mia and Malachi. She met up with Adam at Starfleet Medical. Mark was still hooked up to all sorts of monitors, but according to the doctors he was pulling through well.

However, Nicole had to leave to go pick up Mia from school and Malachi from daycare. She was glad that Mary Ann agreed to send Mia to school. She knew that they wouldn't be able to homeschool the kids with their conflicting schedules. It was a smaller school though.

"Nikki!" A little five year old dark haired green eyed girl ran up to greet Nicole.

Nicole crouched down to hug her. "Hi Mia Mia." she said.

"Lieutenant! I didn't know you were visiting." Mia's teacher, Ms. Rogi said.

Nicole stood up to shake hands with the teacher. Her hair has gone gray now. She was still the sweetest half betazoid teacher ever. She was Nicole's grade school teacher on Betazed. Now she teaches grade school on Earth.

"Hi Kavra. I see you're still teaching." Nicole said, smiling.

"Yes. I don't think I will ever give up teaching." Ms. Rogi said.

"Just like I won't ever give up Starfleet."

"Exactly! Don't let anyone try to pull you away from what you love."

"Yes ma'am."

Nicole wanted to talk more, but she had to pick up Malachi from daycare. So she quickly said her goodbyes, placed Mia in her car seat, and drove off to Malachi's daycare.

"How wong are wu staying, Nikki?" Mia asked.

Nicole kept her eyes on the road. "The Enterprise will be here in a few weeks, so I will stay till then."

"Okay!" Mia said excitedly.

Nicole missed the little goober. She wished she didn't have to be so far away from her niece and nephew.

Adam met her back at the house. It was about an hour from Starfleet Command. There were foothills near that Nicole, Adam, and Rachel climbed as kids. Admiral Collins chose this area, because it was quiet. He liked the calming sounds of nature.

Nicole was the one who made dinner. It was a tofu stir fry with mushrooms, peppers, and cabbage. It was nice to use fresh ingredients. One does get tired of replicated food at times.

"So, tell me about your relationship with this Tucker?" Adam said, bluntly.

Nicole sighed. It was only a matter of time that her little brother was going to bring up Tucker. "What do you want to know?" She asked.

"Well, first of all, I want to know why he isn't here?" Adam asked, annoyed.

"I honestly don't know." Nicole sighed. "Captain Picard was willing to give him leave too, but he declined."

Adam raised an eyebrow. "Dad is in the hospital and he doesn't want to come for support."

"Yes I know." Nicole paused a moment to get a drink of water. She then remembered something. "However, I found it odd that Commander Data offered to come along for support."

"You mean the Android?" Mary Ann asked.

Nicole looked over to her dark skinned sister in law. Her brown eyes were looking at Nicole over the rim of the glass.

"Yes." Nicole said, nodding her head.

"Sounds like you may have an admirer." Adam teased.

"Data doesn't have any emotions. He can't have a crush on me." Nicole explained. Can he, she thought to herself.

It has been odd that Data has been trying to spend more time with her. He has been offering to help her with her tasks, asking if she wants to go to the holodeck, and checking up on her in the evenings. And to top it all off, he wanted to come with her for support, because he thought of her as a friend.

Maybe he does have a crush on me, Nicole thought.

The next day, Nicole decided to record a subspace to Tucker. Letting him know that she made it safely and she was going to visit the Admiral today.

"Hey babe! How are you? I miss you. I made it safely to Earth. I wish you were here. Going to see Mark here in a little while. Just waiting for the kids to wake up so I can drop them off at school and daycare. I love you! So much!" Nicole said, blowing a kiss into the camera.

Once she sent it, she leaned back in her desk chair. She did wish Tucker came with her. It was lonely sleeping in the bed by herself. And Adam really wanted to meet him. Nicole bet Tucker would've loved Mia and Malachi too.

After dropping the kids off at school and daycare, Nicole drove Adam to Starfleet Command. Driving was a little harder than piloting a shuttle, but she was glad to be driving her air car.

"I can't believe this thing still runs." Adam said.

"She isn't that old!" Nicole exclaimed!

"Mmhmm."

Nicole groaned. Her air car may have trouble going. However, it is still her air car. Her first air car to be exact.

"Look, I am not saying anything bad, sis. I just think it is time you get a new air car. We can always go look at the used ones later on this week." Adam said.

Nicole thought about it. Both Mark and Adam have told her several times to trade in her old air car. Mark has even offered to buy her a new one. Each time she has politely declined.

Nicole looked over at her little brother in the passenger seat. She smiled politely. "No thank you."

Adam just rolled his eyes.

"Saw that Ensign." Nicole teased. Which caused Adam to stick his tongue out at her.

Nicole walked into the hospital room. She almost passed out from the horror she saw in front of her. Mark was laying on the hospital bed hooked up to various machines. His normally tanned skin was now almost ghostly white. The nurse said he was coherent, but unable to speak or move so with Nicole being the eldest she had to sign the paperwork and give them the information they needed.

She took a chair next to the bed. "Hey Mark. It's me, Nikki Bean." Nicole said, quietly. Just loud enough for Mark to hear. She also used the nickname he gave her.

"I took the nearest transport to Earth as soon as I could. I came in last night. I had to pick up Mia and Malachi though so I couldn't come by. I am here now though. I miss you." Nicole said with tears welling up in her eyes.

"I would've brought Tucker but he didn't want to come. He had too much to work to do. Commander Data offered to come. I politely declined though. It would've been weird."

Nicole smiled and chuckled lightly at the thought of Data being here with her while her boyfriend was halfway across the galaxy serving on a Starship. She then shook off the thought. Tucker was her boyfriend. Not Data.

Yes she has a crush on Data, but it was just a crush. She wasn't going to do anything about it while she was with Tucker.

Nicole thought she saw Admiral Collin's hand move. She reached out, placing her hand on his. Tears began to fall.

"I miss you." She said again

Adam told her that he was going to pick up the kids so she decided to go back to the house. She went into her bedroom to check her messages. There was no way her message would've made it to Tucker. And if it did, he wouldn't have been able to make a response and send it.

However, she did have some messages from friends and family (The Collins') checking up on Mark. So she answered those as well as the ones from the hospital asking her to sign papers and whatever else she needed to do, because she was the next of kin.

Although Nicole wasn't the biological kid of Admiral Mark Collins, it was the Admiral who placed her down as family. For the longest time, she was his kid. He helped her along with a Vulcan Admiral when she got her betazoid telepathic powers. It was the Admiral who sent her for that Summer on Vulcan and that one school year on Betazed to get her telepathic abilities above average. It was also the Admiral who got her to the Academy. He even got her her first air car for graduating.

The Admiral stepped in when her own father was too much of a coward to even try to look for her.