Home Sweet Home
The following story line is mine. Don't try to copy it cause I'll get mad
In a like vein, Star Trek: Voyager and all characters are the sole property of someone other than me.
Deneb took the advice she was given, to a point. She took up her writing again, involving the crew as much as possible. Her dramatic pool had been reduced, but she never the less managed to organize entire casts and crews. She was sure to consult and "conspire" with Neelix, so as not to bruise his ego. He was, after all, the ship's morale officer. The crew appreciated all of the efforts she made and she received friendly greetings everywhere she went.
Still, she somehow managed to avoid making any real friends. When she was not working, she was unavailable to almost everyone. (The Doctor seemed to be able to get a hold of her wherever she was) Katharine often stopped by her quarters in the evenings, usually to find the girl was not home. She was starting to become seriously concerned. She wondered if the girl could have become mentally or emotionally unstable after all of that time traveling. Tom Paris was the closest thing to a friend the girl had that Katharine had observed.
"I know she spends a lot of time in the holideck, Captain" Tom told her when she went to ask if he could help.
"The holideck?" Katharine repeated.
"She's fascinated with it" Tom said.
"Yes, I imagine she would be" Katharine mused, "Able to create and interact with fantasy worlds. The question is, what kind of fantasy is she creating?"
"I don't know" Tom admitted, "She locks herself in"
"That can't be healthy" Katharine sighed, "I'll go speak to her" For a change, Deneb was in her quarters.
"How are you?" Katharine asked as the doors slid closed behind her. Deneb turned around and rolled her eyes.
"I'm eight months pregnant, how're you?" she asked sarcastically. And the girl did indeed look eight months pregnant. Her belly button was almost a foot from it's original position and her face had taken on the rounded look that many pregnant women gained. She'd also become irritable and impatient, plus she tired easily.
"Do you want something?" she asked, going to the replicator, "Coke?" Katharine scanned the room. Dozens of empty "Coke" cups were sitting about the room.
"Ah, no, thank you" she replied and took a seat, "What've you been up to" she asked as casually as she could. Deneb joined her with her Coke.
"Same old, same old" she answered.
"Tom tells me you've been spending a lot of time in the holideck" Katharine jumped the gun.
"Mmm. Funny thing about history is that it's so much more interesting to watch then to read" Deneb answered absently. Katharine was suddenly relieved.
"Is that what you've been doing in there?" she asked, "Catching up on your history?" Deneb suddenly looked up suspiciously.
"Why?" she asked slowly, "What did you think I was doing?"
"Some people have been known to...lose themselves in the holidecks" Katharine admitted.
"Oh you mean..uh...what was his name? The hypochondriac? Barclay! Reginald Barclay" she nodded to herself, gulping down the last of her Coke, "Don't worry Katharine. I haven't recreated my life aboard the Enterprise and lost myself in it"
"How do you know about Barclay?" Katharine asked, a little surprised.
"The logs are all in the computer" Deneb replied, "I just taught the holideck to turn them into TV"
"TV?" Katharine repeated.
"Television. A primitive form of entertainment. Don't worry, I don't expect you to have any idea" Deneb rolled her eyes and went back to the replicator.
"Another Coke, and a Taco Bell Seven layer burrito, and mashed potatoes, creamy ones with garlic, and a big bowl of peas, Deneb style" The request appeared and Deneb carried it to the table.
"Do you want anything, Katharine?" she asked, already shoveling some of the food into her mouth. Katharine wasn't quite sure when the young mother-to-be had given up calling her "Captain" in favor of Katharine. It had been shortly after viewing her messages.
"No, thank you" she answered with a smile. She was aware of the odd eating habits pregnant women kept. She felt she should be happy that Deneb had never eaten food from, say a Klingon table, or any dinner guests the girl might have would most likely loose their own appetites fairly quickly.
"Mmm. Do me a favor and get me some lo mien?" Deneb lifted a brow hopefully. Katharine let her lips twist up just a bit as she rose to comply. She brushed past a shelf and felt something fall. She turned and saw a picture frame laying face down. She bent and picked it up, but she was surprised at the picture she found in it.
"Where did you get this?" she asked. Deneb looked up from her food, which was nearly half gone already.
"Mm. Harry printed it for me" she answered. Katharine replaced the image of James Kirk where it belonged. She had never noticed it before, oddly enough.
"I've another in my room" Deneb said. She dropped her fork and waddled away to collect it. She brought it back and handed it to Katharine.
"See. This is the two of us after a play I did, 'You Can't Take It With You'. It's a reception in the arboretum" she explained, a warm look on her face. Katharine studied the happy couple. Deneb looked even younger, if that was possible. Perhaps it was just the exuberant happiness that made her face glow when she wore such a huge grin. Kirk, an arm around her waist, was smiling slightly too. Katharine noted that he was handsome, though not her type. He was blonde and well built, with smile lines creasing his eyes. He looked like someone who could've made Deneb very happy.
"This was only a month after we were married, just before we found out I was pregnant" Deneb commented and returned to her meal, "Harry said he could print me out some other ones too. I wanted one of Bones"
"I'm surprised these were still in our archives" Katharine admitted, putting the second photo down.
"Mm. So was Harry. That's Spock's doing" Deneb paused, "For being a Vulcan, he was awfully considerate" Katharine smiled.
"I find that's true of Mr. Tuvok, as well" she said, "Speaking of Vulcans, have you asked Tuvok to continue you're meditive postures?" Deneb stuck a particularly large bit of potatoes in her mouth and tried to avoid the Captain's look.
"Deneb?" Katharine was feeling like a mother again. Deneb looked up, a look of total aristocracy on her face.
"No I haven't. Spock mentioned that once my pregnancy had progressed so far I'd be physically unable to accomplish most of the postures" she answered haughtily, "Therefore, I didn't see any point in asking until I am able to do them again"
"You didn't see any point, or you just didn't want to?" Katharine asked, "Tuvok told me there are a set of specific postures for pregnant women" Deneb shrugged.
"Well then Spock didn't know them"
"Tuvok says most men don't. But he happens to. He learned them with his wife while she was pregnant with their children" Deneb jerked her gaze away from her food, the last of which was halfway to her mouth.
"Tuvok has children?" she asked, sounding astounded.
"Two" Katharine answered, "But you're trying to change the subject. Deneb, you can't seclude yourself from the rest of the crew. It's not healthy"
"I'm not secluding myself from the crew" Deneb argued, washing her food down with her Coke, "I'm doing what Bones and Jim and even Spock told me to do. I'm doing the newspaper, I'm directing plays, just like I've always done"
"Yes. But you're holding yourself back" Katharine pointed out, "You're not allowing yourself to move past that amiable acquaintance stage"
" I am not" Deneb said stubbornly, jutting her bottom lip out in a gesture suspiciously close to a pout.
"Yes, you are" Katharine said firmly, "And you need to make some friends. It is unhealthy for a person to be so isolated" Deneb frowned.
"Who's the shrink on board?"
"Shrink?" Katharine repeated, confused.
"The psychologist, councilor, whatever. Cause that sounds an awful lot like something a shrink would say" Deneb replied.
"We don't have a councilor on board" Katharine told her, although, come to think of it, she wished they did. The crew seemed to have hammered out routes of stress relief, but there were occasions when Katharine could have used a good Betazoid aboard.
"Well then I don't think you should go throwing such phrases about, Captain" Deneb was joking now in her odd dry sense of humor, "You never know when you might turn into a shrink" She smiled at her own humor and put all of her dirty dishes into the dispenser. Katharine knew it would be no good to try to talk to her now.
"And that's another thing" she said, looking at the dirty dishes, " You never eat down in the mess hall. Neelix is beginning to think you don't like his cooking" She said it with a straight face, but Deneb burst out laughing none the less.
In a like vein, Star Trek: Voyager and all characters are the sole property of someone other than me.
Deneb took the advice she was given, to a point. She took up her writing again, involving the crew as much as possible. Her dramatic pool had been reduced, but she never the less managed to organize entire casts and crews. She was sure to consult and "conspire" with Neelix, so as not to bruise his ego. He was, after all, the ship's morale officer. The crew appreciated all of the efforts she made and she received friendly greetings everywhere she went.
Still, she somehow managed to avoid making any real friends. When she was not working, she was unavailable to almost everyone. (The Doctor seemed to be able to get a hold of her wherever she was) Katharine often stopped by her quarters in the evenings, usually to find the girl was not home. She was starting to become seriously concerned. She wondered if the girl could have become mentally or emotionally unstable after all of that time traveling. Tom Paris was the closest thing to a friend the girl had that Katharine had observed.
"I know she spends a lot of time in the holideck, Captain" Tom told her when she went to ask if he could help.
"The holideck?" Katharine repeated.
"She's fascinated with it" Tom said.
"Yes, I imagine she would be" Katharine mused, "Able to create and interact with fantasy worlds. The question is, what kind of fantasy is she creating?"
"I don't know" Tom admitted, "She locks herself in"
"That can't be healthy" Katharine sighed, "I'll go speak to her" For a change, Deneb was in her quarters.
"How are you?" Katharine asked as the doors slid closed behind her. Deneb turned around and rolled her eyes.
"I'm eight months pregnant, how're you?" she asked sarcastically. And the girl did indeed look eight months pregnant. Her belly button was almost a foot from it's original position and her face had taken on the rounded look that many pregnant women gained. She'd also become irritable and impatient, plus she tired easily.
"Do you want something?" she asked, going to the replicator, "Coke?" Katharine scanned the room. Dozens of empty "Coke" cups were sitting about the room.
"Ah, no, thank you" she replied and took a seat, "What've you been up to" she asked as casually as she could. Deneb joined her with her Coke.
"Same old, same old" she answered.
"Tom tells me you've been spending a lot of time in the holideck" Katharine jumped the gun.
"Mmm. Funny thing about history is that it's so much more interesting to watch then to read" Deneb answered absently. Katharine was suddenly relieved.
"Is that what you've been doing in there?" she asked, "Catching up on your history?" Deneb suddenly looked up suspiciously.
"Why?" she asked slowly, "What did you think I was doing?"
"Some people have been known to...lose themselves in the holidecks" Katharine admitted.
"Oh you mean..uh...what was his name? The hypochondriac? Barclay! Reginald Barclay" she nodded to herself, gulping down the last of her Coke, "Don't worry Katharine. I haven't recreated my life aboard the Enterprise and lost myself in it"
"How do you know about Barclay?" Katharine asked, a little surprised.
"The logs are all in the computer" Deneb replied, "I just taught the holideck to turn them into TV"
"TV?" Katharine repeated.
"Television. A primitive form of entertainment. Don't worry, I don't expect you to have any idea" Deneb rolled her eyes and went back to the replicator.
"Another Coke, and a Taco Bell Seven layer burrito, and mashed potatoes, creamy ones with garlic, and a big bowl of peas, Deneb style" The request appeared and Deneb carried it to the table.
"Do you want anything, Katharine?" she asked, already shoveling some of the food into her mouth. Katharine wasn't quite sure when the young mother-to-be had given up calling her "Captain" in favor of Katharine. It had been shortly after viewing her messages.
"No, thank you" she answered with a smile. She was aware of the odd eating habits pregnant women kept. She felt she should be happy that Deneb had never eaten food from, say a Klingon table, or any dinner guests the girl might have would most likely loose their own appetites fairly quickly.
"Mmm. Do me a favor and get me some lo mien?" Deneb lifted a brow hopefully. Katharine let her lips twist up just a bit as she rose to comply. She brushed past a shelf and felt something fall. She turned and saw a picture frame laying face down. She bent and picked it up, but she was surprised at the picture she found in it.
"Where did you get this?" she asked. Deneb looked up from her food, which was nearly half gone already.
"Mm. Harry printed it for me" she answered. Katharine replaced the image of James Kirk where it belonged. She had never noticed it before, oddly enough.
"I've another in my room" Deneb said. She dropped her fork and waddled away to collect it. She brought it back and handed it to Katharine.
"See. This is the two of us after a play I did, 'You Can't Take It With You'. It's a reception in the arboretum" she explained, a warm look on her face. Katharine studied the happy couple. Deneb looked even younger, if that was possible. Perhaps it was just the exuberant happiness that made her face glow when she wore such a huge grin. Kirk, an arm around her waist, was smiling slightly too. Katharine noted that he was handsome, though not her type. He was blonde and well built, with smile lines creasing his eyes. He looked like someone who could've made Deneb very happy.
"This was only a month after we were married, just before we found out I was pregnant" Deneb commented and returned to her meal, "Harry said he could print me out some other ones too. I wanted one of Bones"
"I'm surprised these were still in our archives" Katharine admitted, putting the second photo down.
"Mm. So was Harry. That's Spock's doing" Deneb paused, "For being a Vulcan, he was awfully considerate" Katharine smiled.
"I find that's true of Mr. Tuvok, as well" she said, "Speaking of Vulcans, have you asked Tuvok to continue you're meditive postures?" Deneb stuck a particularly large bit of potatoes in her mouth and tried to avoid the Captain's look.
"Deneb?" Katharine was feeling like a mother again. Deneb looked up, a look of total aristocracy on her face.
"No I haven't. Spock mentioned that once my pregnancy had progressed so far I'd be physically unable to accomplish most of the postures" she answered haughtily, "Therefore, I didn't see any point in asking until I am able to do them again"
"You didn't see any point, or you just didn't want to?" Katharine asked, "Tuvok told me there are a set of specific postures for pregnant women" Deneb shrugged.
"Well then Spock didn't know them"
"Tuvok says most men don't. But he happens to. He learned them with his wife while she was pregnant with their children" Deneb jerked her gaze away from her food, the last of which was halfway to her mouth.
"Tuvok has children?" she asked, sounding astounded.
"Two" Katharine answered, "But you're trying to change the subject. Deneb, you can't seclude yourself from the rest of the crew. It's not healthy"
"I'm not secluding myself from the crew" Deneb argued, washing her food down with her Coke, "I'm doing what Bones and Jim and even Spock told me to do. I'm doing the newspaper, I'm directing plays, just like I've always done"
"Yes. But you're holding yourself back" Katharine pointed out, "You're not allowing yourself to move past that amiable acquaintance stage"
" I am not" Deneb said stubbornly, jutting her bottom lip out in a gesture suspiciously close to a pout.
"Yes, you are" Katharine said firmly, "And you need to make some friends. It is unhealthy for a person to be so isolated" Deneb frowned.
"Who's the shrink on board?"
"Shrink?" Katharine repeated, confused.
"The psychologist, councilor, whatever. Cause that sounds an awful lot like something a shrink would say" Deneb replied.
"We don't have a councilor on board" Katharine told her, although, come to think of it, she wished they did. The crew seemed to have hammered out routes of stress relief, but there were occasions when Katharine could have used a good Betazoid aboard.
"Well then I don't think you should go throwing such phrases about, Captain" Deneb was joking now in her odd dry sense of humor, "You never know when you might turn into a shrink" She smiled at her own humor and put all of her dirty dishes into the dispenser. Katharine knew it would be no good to try to talk to her now.
"And that's another thing" she said, looking at the dirty dishes, " You never eat down in the mess hall. Neelix is beginning to think you don't like his cooking" She said it with a straight face, but Deneb burst out laughing none the less.