Disclaimer: I don't own the ship, the characters, or anything at all.

Chapter 31 – Letters from home

Four days later

Elizabeth walked down the corridor enroute to the messhall, for a cup of coffee and a quite corner to read her first letter from the Alpha quadrant, her father to be precise. She smiled, as Tom came jogging up from behind her he stopped just behind her and glanced over her shoulder at the padd containing her letter.

"So, what does he say?" Tom asked inquisitive.

"I don't know. I've only just got it, I'm going to the messhall to read it, want to come?" she asked.

"I can't, I'm late for the Doc again," Tom said smirking.

"Oh, well you better hurry then, he might report you this time," she laughed.

"He might, but now I have you to keep me in good stead with the Captain" Tom said, laughing as he jogged off down the corridor.

"Bye then" Elizabeth said, as she watched him with raised eyebrows.

She entered the mess hall to be accosted by Neelix with a new delicacy, although it looked less than appetising.

"Elizabeth, you just came in at the right moment," he said, indicating at the plate containing his new delicacy.

"Oh, I'm really not hungry, I just came in for a drink," Elizabeth excused herself.

"Oh, well, I'm sure you'll be able to try them out tomorrow night," he said, suddenly looking bewildered.

"Tomorrow night?" she said, questioningly.

"Um, I, well, I…. tomorrow is your birthday and the Captain thought it would be nice to have a party," he said, looking a little guilty.

"A surprise party, right?" Elizabeth said, seeing how guilty Neelix looked.

"Yes, well it was. The Captain, she'll…" he began.

"She won't find out, don't worry," Elizabeth said, finding it amusing that she would have to pretend to be surprised.

"Thank you, I'm so sorry," Neelix apologised bashfully.

"Don't worry about it," Elizabeth said, glancing around the room for a quiet seat.

The mess hall was busy this evening, almost every table was full, apart from a small one towards the back of the room, next to the window. Elizabeth wandered over, she noticed a few people were looking at her, some of the faces were familiar but most were largely the night staff she hadn't met yet.

Elizabeth sat down and placed the padd in front of her on the table, just as she was about to begin reading it she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned around.

"Want some company?" the Captain asked, smiling at her.

"Uh, no, I mean yes," Elizabeth said, what Neelix told her coming straight to mind upon seeing the Captain.

The Captain raised an eyebrow, "Is there something wrong?" she asked, knowing it wasn't like Elizabeth to stumble over her words like that.

"No, I'm fine. I just didn't expect to see you here," Elizabeth said.

"Who's the letter from?" she asked, taking a small sip of her coffee.

"My dad," Elizabeth said, quietly.

"How is he?" the Captain asked, knowing it must have been difficult for him to let his daughter go.

"He's fine, he says he misses me," Elizabeth said glancing at the Captain over the padd.

"I'm sure he does," she said, taking Elizabeth's spare hand in her own and squeezing it.

"Doctor to the Captain" chirped the Captains commbadge.

"What can I do for you doctor?" she asked, rolling her eyes at Elizabeth, who merely smiled.

"You're due a check up Captain, perhaps you would like to stop by sickbay this evening as you've been unavailable all day," the doctor said, his voice tinged slightly with sarcasm.

The Captain sighed, "I'm on my way, doctor."

Elizabeth laughed, "It's not that bad really," she giggled.

"Shouldn't I telling you that," the Captain said with a smile.

"You want some company?" Elizabeth asked, as the Captain stood up and drained her coffee.

"Thank you," she said, pleased that Elizabeth was actually offering to spend time with her. It seemed, especially recently, that when she had been free from her busy schedule to spend time with her daughter, Elizabeth immediately found something to busy herself with.

Sickbay

The doctor was surprised to see both Elizabeth and the Captain walk through the doors to sickbay, as was Tom who grinned mischievously and went back to work.

The Captain was motioned over to a biobed, Elizabeth could see that she was reluctant; she seemed ready to talk about all manner of medical things from the recent injuries to the sickbay cleaning rota, anything rather than be submitted to a full physical.

"Captain, if you'll just sit down," she heard the doctor say.

"I'm perfectly fine standing, doctor" the Captain answered.

Elizabeth exchanged a look with Tom, who was busy trying to hide the grin on his face. She headed over to say 'hi' and escape the tension building between the Captain and doctor.

"It's nice to see the two of you together," Tom said in a somewhat serious tone, as Elizabeth appeared next to him.

Elizabeth nodded, not overly sure what she should say in answer to his comment, she was almost sure the Captain had come looking for her with an incentive this evening, perhaps because it was her birthday tomorrow.

"Captain, you really can't afford to take chances with your health," the doctors raised voice floated over; he was obviously getting exasperated.

"I thought perhaps you would like to stay in my quarters tonight," the Captain said, appearing next to the two of them.

Elizabeth looked at her blankly; she had been half expecting her to ask this. She glanced at Tom who was also awaiting her answer.

"I'd like that," she said, quietly.

She looked at Tom, who smiled at her. The Captain slipped an arm around her shoulders, "Well, that's sorted then," she said, obviously pleased.

Elizabeth began to wonder if this was the Captains way of making her feel comfortable around her, before asking her to move into her quarters for good. She had a feeling it was, and if she was honest she didn't know how she felt about it; living with a Captain could be overbearing and she didn't want to end up falling out with her, or causing her more stress than she already had to endure. On the other hand, she knew how much the Captain wanted this perhaps how much she needed this.

Elizabeth and the Captain left sickbay for the latter's quarters, leaving Tom to handle the irritated doctor.

Fin

Please review; I'd like to here your opinions on the story so far. I don't think I'm going to write overly much more on this story, perhaps a couple more chapters.