The Commander was putting on her shoes when she hears the comm chime to her quarters' door. She looks up and says come. The door slides open to welcome Sergeant Najjar.
"Commander," she says as she stands at attention.
"At ease Sergeant or should I say Doctor?" The Commander gives her a smile. "You're here to report in that capacity correct?" The Egyptian Doctor gives her a nod.
The Commander had spoken with her in the mess hall the night before inquiring a little further into her medical training. Najjar had told her she had been a family doctor, who spent some of her free time volunteering in the local hospital's emergency room. It had given her the experience with the type of emergency medicine that she could use here at XCom. "I wasn't doubting your abilities Doctor, only confirming that you are the exact person I'm looking for," the Commander had told her.
Sitting down the Commander gestures to have her join her. "I visited Lila in the AWC this morning as you requested, Ma'am. I think moving her there was a wise decision," Najjar tell her as she brushes her hair back over her shoulder.
"I wish I could take credit for it, but that was Central," she says. "Why do you think it was a good idea?"
"She said that she didn't like Research. When I asked her why she said she thought the Doctor was always looking at her funny and that it was a bit scary." Najjar explains. The Commander's lips form a soft frown. "Honestly I find research a bit scary myself, Ma'am so it's not a big stretch." She laughs trying to set her at ease.
The Commander nods in agreement. It wasn't her favorite place on the Avenger either. "What about her overall health?"
"I examined her, and she seems to be a completely healthy. We did some exercises and she doesn't seem to be experiencing the atrophy that plagued you in the early days of your return. I think she's a normal healthy little girl Commander," Najjar tells her.
"That's good to hear. Not that I don't trust Doctor Tygan, but he doesn't always give you a warm cozy feeling," the Commander says. "Did you talk with her? What about her -" She searches for the word she wants.
"Development?"
The Commander is out of her element here. She wasn't a parent, a mom - she hadn't read books on the subject and she certainly didn't know what she should be asking, only that she should be asking something. "I believe that's what they call it."
Najjar smiles. "She has a strong vocabulary for a four-year-old and I feel she's not saying a lot, perhaps because she's unsure of herself. I tested all the development milestones, that I could remember. It's been awhile since I treated a child. Again, she's doing quite well."
"Najjar, we're - Central and I are planning on keeping her on the ship."
The Commander sees the Doctor's face light up a bit with this news. "I think that's wise. She expressed quite a bit of excitement about the two of you," the Doctor tells her as she sits forward placing her data pad on the table in front of her.
"Tygan has been preoccupied with other matters, but he has been able to tell us they were transmitting images into her head using the chip. He found several images of both Central and I among the broken data."
The Sergeant thinks about this a moment, "That would make sense. Lila said she had seen pictures of both of you. From both then and now. In your case that is easy enough since from what I understand you haven't aged over your time in stasis, but the CO she was able to point out from the photograph I borrowed from the bar." The Commander smiled at this and then seems to be thinking again. "Commander, I know this is all new to you and of course the CO, but I think keeping her near you is good for her."
She smiles at her, "So you won't mind when we ping you during the night because we have no idea what to do?"
"Not at all Commander," Najjar says getting up. "Just trust your instincts. Both of you."
"Thank you Najjar," the Commander gets to her feet. "I have to get down to the AWC. The Chief had informed us that Lila's quarters are finished."
Najjar accompanies her to the AWC, in part for Lila but more so for the Commander who is clearly a nervous first time Mother. She had seen in her past life. There was nothing wrong with it, it was why some people often didn't have children. They could be overwhelming and to be thrown into being a parent mid-stream could be even more challenging. Still Najjar thought they would be alright even with everything going on around them. As much as the Commander and Central were new parents, the little girl in the AWC was a new child. There would be a lot of tests ahead of the three of them. As they entered the AWC, they found Bradford had just arrived.
The CO of the Avenger walks in and finds Lila sitting on the edge of the bed. Legs hanging over the side of the bed swinging back and forth. She smiles at the sight of him. "Hello," she says to him.
"Hello, how are you this morning?"
"Good," she says as she takes his hand. She looks up and as the Commander walks in.
The Commander smiles seeing Bradford standing there. She is glad she doesn't have to do this alone. He gives her a nod. Najjar waves to Lila and she receives a little wave in return.
"I'll leave you now, but if you have any questions Commander or you Central you know where to find me." She salutes them both, but before leaving turns to Lila, "And good luck to you today. I'll see you around."
"Bye Doc!" Lila says and Bradford glances down at her and then up at the Commander, who has sat down on the bed next to her. They both turn to look at him at once they are alone.
"Well Central?" The Commander says giving him a smile.
"Oh, I see how it is," he says to her. He looks at Lila, "Chief Shen has found quarters for you."
"We thought we could take you there and show you around the Avenger before we - well we have to work so to speak," the Commander says suddenly feeling what is coming out of her mouth sounds completely absurd.
"Will I be near you?" Lila asks.
Bradford glances at the Commander, "The quarters are across from the Commander's quarters and mine are the next deck down, but you'll also be right near the bridge if you need to find me." She gives him a nod of approval.
"Would you like to go see your new...home?" The Commander asks.
They walked her around the Avenger showing her where things are. It made the Commander think about her first day of school. When they reached her quarters, they pointed out where the Commander's quarters were and the door to the bridge before going inside.
Over the last few days they had discussed Lila and her abilities a lot. With their relationship not public - for good reason and their new roles as parents they needed to have a conversation with her about what she might know versus what the crew of the Avenger was privy to. Neither of them liked the idea that their first official act as parents was to teach their child to lie, but they didn't see another way around it until they could figure out how it was all going to work.
"These will be your quarters," Bradford tells her as the door shuts behind them.
Lila looks around. It was quite large for her - though probably half the size of Central's. It had a bed, a small seating area, a bookcase and a table to eat or work at. Shen had even found to the surprise of the Commander and Central a photograph of the two of them at HQ which could have only been among her Father's things. They were standing together during a medal ceremony. She placed the photo on the bookcase along with a few old classics she had packed among her personal items. Shen thought the Wizard of Oz would serve the little girl better than rotting away in her old pack.
"We'll get you somethings-" the Commander starts, but then realizes she doesn't know what. Central had asked Najjar to see if she could get some clothing for them when they put boots down at one of the local resistance groups.
"It's good! Way better than the AWC!" She tells them. Bradford smirks at her honesty. He walks over and sits down on one of the benches. Looking up at the Commander he gives her nod. The little girl looks over at him.
"Lila we need to talk to you about something," he says to her. She walks over to him and hops up on the bench next to him. She looks up at the man who is her father with her big grey eyes. He smiles slightly and then looks at the Commander.
She sighs. "Lila, Central and I work together and because of that we-," she stops. "The thing is that even though we're your…"
Bradford chuckles, "not as easy as you thought." He tells her. She rolls her eyes at him.
"Because you work together you have separate quarters," the child says suddenly. Both look at her.
"Yes," Central answers.
"Do you like each other?"
They both laugh nervously at this question. "Yes, we do." The Commander says glancing at Bradford.
"But no one but us knows." Lila asks, looking at him.
"Right." He tells her. "And no one can right now."
"Okay." She says and smiles at him. He looks up at the Commander and repeats the girls answer with a smirk.
Central's comm chirps. He opens the line, "Central here."
"Sir, Gamma squad is in the pike. Should drop in fifteen minutes," Petrak reports to the CO. Central looks at the Commander. "I'll be right there. Update Zhang on any additional intel Lieutenant."
"Yes, sir. Bridge out."
Looking at Lila he says, "looks like I have to go to work. Do you think you can amuse yourself?" He asks her. She nods and leans in giving him a hug. He looks up at the Commander and she can see he's touched by the gesture. "Alright be a good girl," He says standing. "Where are you off to?"
"I am past due for a meeting in the PSI lab," the Commander tells him. Turning to Lila, "If you would like to come with me you're welcome to." Lila smiles saying she would.
"Good." Central says and then looks down one last time. "We'll have dinner together tonight. The Comm - your mother and I discussed it and we will make that a daily thing."
"Understood, Sir!" Lila says saluting him. He shakes his head as he leaves. He's not sure how easy this is going to be.