She had cried.
Tears had flowed from her beautiful eyes when she had heard they were leaving. "Why, Dad, why?!" she had asked, her young face contorted with sadness.
"Starfleet's ordered us back. There's nothing we can do about it." he had replied, taking his daughter into his arms and holding her.
Now, as they landed on Earth, Trip was comforted by the familiar sight of home.
He stepped off of the shuttlepod, and waited for Rachael. She stepped off the ship, and stared at everything around her with a child's innocence.
"Wow." she said, her eyes wide open.
Trip laughed. "Yeah."
He picked up their bags and headed to an awaiting hover-cab.
They got into the hover-cab, and rode in silence, both looking outside to the city around them.
San Fransisco had changed. Once-great buildings were gone since Trip had seen them last, replaced with more advanced and modern ones.
//Nine years is a long time.// he thought to himself.
And then they were there. Their new home, an apartment near the bay. Humongous compared to their cramped quarters on Enterprise.
Trip sighed. Enterprise. No longer the pride and joy of the fleet; now it was just an old, worn out ship, sitting in dry-dock, waiting to become a museum.
He paid the cabbie and got out. Once again picking up their bags, he lead Rachael inside. They took the elevator up, and found their apartment, 6A. Rachael was first inside, and he sound heard a squeak of delight.
"There's so much space!" she cried, prancing about.
Trip couldn't help but laugh. He'd almost forgotten that Rachael had never lived on a planet before.
"C'mon, Rach." he said, "Let's get unpacking."
***************
He stood on the balcony, facing the bay. The sea breeze swept through his hair and wrinkling his clothes. He didn't mind.
He breathed in deep and felt the salt air in his lungs. It was the first time in a while that he wasn't breathing bottled air. It felt good.
He took a sip from the drink in his hand. Rum and coke. Hadn't done that in a while either, drink alcohol. It wasn't actually allowed on board, and he was afraid for a while after Their deaths that he would develop a problem.
He smiled to himself. Tomorrow would be Rachael's first day at a real school. For Grade 1 she had learned from the database, and he taught her some Engineering stuff too. Not that she'd remember a lot of it, but he liked teaching her it anyways.
The night grew dark around him, and he decided to turn in. He locked all the doors, something he hadn't done in nine years, and headed to his own room. He fell onto his bed and let sleep overtake him.