* * STARBASE 515 - DECK 15 OFFICER'S MESS * *
Mother and daughter were seated at a table in a windowed corner of the Deck 15 Officer's Mess, the remains of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a plate in the center of the table. The tearful and happy reunion had quickly turned into a stern lecture and B'Elanna was now going over the finer points of why one should not go off on their own when in a strange place, "… and what if Mr. Vaughn hadn't found you? What if you'd gotten lost, or hurt?"
Miral was surprised at the lecture. At first the thought that she'd get in trouble never occurred to her, but then after some careful reflection, it made sense. But what really surprised her was that mommy wasn't angry at her like the time she broke the living room lamp with daddy's pool cue. Instead, her mother was much calmer, and though she wasn't angry, even Miral could pick out the worried and slightly strained undertone in her voice.
"…if you'd fallen in those Jefferies tubes, you could have been seriously hurt and I might not have been able to find and help you."
At her mother's pause in the conversation, Miral looked up with slightly teary blue eyes and sniffled. "I… I'm sorry." She looked down at her shoes, her legs now crossed and swinging under her chair.
B'Elanna crossed over to the other side of the table and lifted her daughter up to her eye level. "I don't ever want you to do anything like that again, Miral Katherine Paris. Do you understand?"
Miral nodded slowly and then hugged her mother. Lifting her eyes for a second, she noticed Lt. Forrester and Lt. Hall eating at a table on the other side of the room with Lt. Rona and Lt. Taval.
"Mommy! Mommy! Look!" Miral outstretched a little forefinger and pointed at the table. "That's the men, mommy! The men who tried to take me!"
B'Elanna turned her head to see who her daughter was pointing to. Seeing Dave and Frank, she realized that this was going to be quite an interesting story. On the dangerous scale from Barclay to Khan, Forrester and Hall fell somewhere between Barclay and a Tribble. Groaning mentally, she started off towards the other table with Miral, determined to find out what they had done this time.
Dave was sitting at the table, animatedly talking and gesticulating with his hands as Frank, Rona and Arah listened with faint interest. "So, then I offer to take her back to her mother, and man, I tell you, this kid took off like rocket. Hell, I still can't figure out what the hell was up with that. But now, on her way out, she knocked the table and as soon as she was out of the office - BOOM! The whole stereo fell! All 300 credits worth! Isn't that right, Frank?"
Frank looked up from his club sandwich, "Yeah, sure Dave. You know, this story is getting kinda old."
"Sorry, Frank. You guys all know that once I get interested in something…"
Rona took over the conversation, "Well, with us, it was far more surprising. One minute, we're working on a malfunctioning crawler, and the next, it takes off. And as it heads for the door, we see this little girl running off ahead of it. Strange." Rona took another sip of her root beer.
"Lieutenants."
All four heads shot towards B'Elanna's voice, finding her standing in front of the table with little Miral clutching her neck.
Arah spoke, "Oh, hi Chief!" Uneasy silence followed.
Scanning the faces of the four officers, B'Elanna turned her head towards the smaller head resting on her shoulders. "Miral has something she wants to say to you. Go ahead."
The little girl's head popped up, looked at her mother's face and then at the four people. "I'm very sorry." She didn't know what she was sorry for, but the look that her mother had flashed her was one that told her to apologize.
The uneasy silence returned until B'Elanna turned towards Dave and Frank. "Dave, Frank… would you mind telling me why my daughter is convinced you were trying to kidnap her?"
Arah and Rona verbally groaned. They were going to have to listen to the whole story all over again, weren't they?