Title: Thursday's Child

Author: Sita Z

Rating: M

AN: Thanks to all of you who reviewed Chapter 1!

Othrilis (thank you, I will!), Tata (glad you like it, and I promise you'll find at least two chapters when you're back ;-). Yes, Mal's mission on that planet is finished, he's going back to Enterprise now), Gabi (Wie kommst du denn auf Trip? Hmmmm... ;-) ), firebirdgirl (yeah, well, it's not exactly the same as my last story, but similar in some aspects, I think), Roaring Mice (thanks ;-)!), The Libran Iniquity (Yes, there're two or three stories like that, and they made me wonder how it would work the other way around... naja, wir werden sehen ;-)!), Cha Oseye Tempest Thrain (Great! How soon is soon... okay, I'll stop getting on your nerves, sorry ;-). I'm glad you like it, keep telling me what you think, please!), Ocean (you're right, I admit it seems a little strange at first, but it's going to be explained later on in the story), stage manager (thank you!), JadziaKathryn (I'm glad you kept reading, and I hope you'll like how it turns out), Parisfan (thank you!), Rinne (thanks!), JennMel (that's a good thing to hear :-) ), Exploded Pen ("an all round good egg" - I like that!), bluedana (thank you; I didn't want Malcolm's character to deviate too much from the show, so I'm glad you say so)

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Chapter 2

"I'm too tired to walk. You have to carry me, Daddy."

Sammy had slid down in his seat so that his feet were almost touching the back of the pilot chair. His face pulled into a sulking frown, he made no move to join his sister and the two men who were waiting outside the hatch.

"Come on, Sammy, I know you're not that tired."

"I am!" Sammy pushed his lower lip out, and his eyes showed the first signs of coming tears. "My legs are all tingly and my butt aches. And I'm sooo tired!"

"Sammy..."

Malcolm decided that right now he didn't care whether carrying luggage was a servants' job or not. It was dark and starting to drizzle, and he wanted to get inside. Taking his bag from Sev's hand, he gestured at Sammy.

"I think someone needs a lift here," he said, smiling to let him know that he had taken no offence. Sev hesitated, and Sammy began to whine again.

"Dah-dee!"

Sighing, Sammy's father crawled back through the hatch to pick up the sleepy child.

"Well, come on, pumpkin."

Sammy hid his face in Sev's neck, and Malcolm breathed an inward sigh of relief. For a moment, it had looked as if the boy, tired and cranky from more than five hours of driving, was going to throw a little tantrum to round off a perfect day. Sara looked tired as well, but hadn't uttered a word of complaint.

As they walked towards the roadside hotel where Malcolm had decided they were going to stay for the night, he suddenly noticed the girl catching up with him.

"Please, sir," she said, timidly reaching for the bag, "I can take that."

Malcolm saw the look in her dark eyes, and realized that this wasn't about a little girl trying to be good and help. This was about a little girl desperately trying to prove that she was useful, that there was no need to get any bright ideas about giving her away. After a moment's hesitation, he handed her the bag.

"You sure it's not too heavy?" he asked when the child lifted it up.

Sara shook her head. "I've carried stuff much heavier than that, sir."

And looking at her arms, he could see that she was telling the truth.

The hotel's small lobby was empty except for the receptionist, who was deeply engrossed in a magazine with several scantily clad women on the cover. He looked up and quickly shoved the magazine under the counter, straightening up in his chair which gave a low creak.

"Can I help you..." His eyes traveled over the small group, and Malcolm saw a small frown appear on his face when he realized that none of them were Kareedian. Then, however, he took a look at their clothing and seemed to decide that Malcolm was the one to address. He was, after all, the only one wearing shoes. "Can I help you, sir?"

"We're planning to get back on the road tomorrow morning," Malcolm said. "We're going to leave early and really only need a place to sleep."

"There's a single room on the second floor, sir." The receptionist cast a glance at Sev and his children. "We'll put a few mattresses in the storeroom for your servants."

"Actually," Malcolm said, a little more sharply than he had intended, "I was hoping you'd have a room with a pull-out couch or something like that."

He could practically feel Sev's surprised look between his shoulderblades.

"First floor, room number 108, sir," the receptionist said, raising his left eyebrow as he pushed the key card towards Malcolm. "Please return the card at the reception before you leave."

No, I'm going to flush it down the loo first thing tomorrow morning. Malcolm bit his lip. "Thanks."

He took the card and walked off towards the stairs, pretending not to have heard the receptionist's muttered comment. "Offworlders."

Sev followed him, and Malcolm saw that Sammy had fallen asleep. The boy's head rested on his father's shoulder, and his mouth was slightly open, a small bubble of spit forming between his lips. Malcolm caught himself smiling at the sight and looked away, but not quickly enough for Sev not to have noticed. Again, the man seemed surprised, and Malcolm sighed inwardly.

I'm not doing a very good job of this.

Malcolm resisted the urge to take his bag from Sara as they walked up the stairs. It didn't seem right to him, having his personal belongings carried by a child; in a way, it made him feel like one of his colonial ancestors of several hundred years ago - a white Sahib having a little Indian boy carry his bags and suitcases. Not a very flattering image. Malcolm was beginning to get uncomfortable with all of this, with the role he had been forced to assume and with the fact that he didn't really know how Sev and his family were going to fit into his plans. He had to get off planet, as soon and as quietly as possible, but how was he going to do so with two little children in tow? And, even more importantly, how was he going to do so without endangering these people?

They reached room 108, and Malcolm inserted the key card into the slot next to the door. A blue light lit up, and the door slid aside, the ceiling lamps inside automatically lighting up.

The room was not particularly spacious and the furniture had definitely seen better times, but it was going to fit their needs. On the right hand side, Malcolm saw a single bed covered with a bedspread that looked worn-out but clean. Opposite to it stood the Kareedian version of a pull-out couch, two blankets neatly stacked on top of it. Out of habit, Malcolm checked the window and saw that it could be locked. Good.

As he turned back, he noticed that both Sev and his daughter were still standing next to the door, apparently unsure what to do. Sara was gripping the handle of Malcolm's bag as if she were afraid to let go of it.

"Well... make yourselves at home," Malcolm said a little helplessly. The girl looked up at her father.

"Are we going to sleep in here, Daddy?" she asked, her eyes widening as if the idea struck her as absurd. Instead of giving an answer, Sev looked at Malcolm with a strange expression on his face.

"Of course, where else would you sleep?" Malcolm wasn't sure what to make of their reaction. "Come on, let's set up the couch so you can put Sammy to bed."

"I can do that, sir," Sev said quickly and much in the same way Sara had offered to carry Malcolm's bag. He put his sleeping son down on the old stuffed chair next to the window, and began to examine the pull-out mechanism of the couch. It was obvious that he had never seen anything like it before, but it took him only a minute to figure it out. Soon, the couch was spread out, and Sev carefully laid Sammy down on it, unfolding one of the blankets and spreading it over the sleeping boy. Sammy sighed and put his thumb into his mouth, but he didn't wake up.

"Come on, honey." Smiling, Sev patted the mattress next to Sammy. "Time for bed."

Sara hesitated briefly, but then she lay down next to her brother and allowed her father to tuck her in as well. Malcolm noticed that both children were still wearing their clothes, and suddenly realized that their clothes - or rather rags - were really all that Sev's family had. They had no spare underwear, no comb, no toothbrushes. Malcolm wondered why he hadn't noticed before. Maybe because you just expected people to have these things.

"Are you going to stay here, Daddy?" Sara asked quietly, but with audible trepidation in her voice. Sev nodded and kissed her on the cheek.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Promise, remember?"

The girl smiled wanly and closed her eyes. Malcolm watched as Sev gently brushed back a stray lock that had fallen into her face, smoothing away the small frown that creased her forehead. "Sleep now," he said quietly, and soon enough, Sara's breathing grew slow and even.

Malcolm, who had busied himself unpacking his things, saw that the child was asleep and came to a decision. He couldn't tell Sev exactly who he was without endangering the man's life, but there were still a few things Sev needed to know. Again, he found himself confronted with the problem how to begin a conversation - he still had no idea how to talk to the man.

"She asleep?" he asked finally, just to say something. Sev, still sitting on the edge of the couch, looked up. For some reason Malcolm couldn't fathom, he looked worried. Or maybe not really worried; he looked weary. Defeated, in a way. Malcolm had no idea why, but they needed to get this over with, and so he pushed on.

"The reason I'm asking is, I'd rather you not mention this to the children. You know there's-"

Malcolm stopped. Sev had bowed his head, and there was something about his posture that caught Malcolm's immediate attention.

"What's wrong?"

Sev did not look up. Malcolm, beginning to get worried, got up from the bed and crouched down next to him.

"Are you alright?"

At that, Sev raised his head, and Malcolm was startled to see the anguish on his face. When the man spoke, his voice was strained.

"Sir, you've been... very kind and generous. You saved my children and I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am. I'll do everything you say-"

"You don't have to-" Malcolm began, but Sev continued as if he hadn't heard him.

"-but I so wish..."

He trailed off. Malcolm, sensing his distress even though he didn't know the reason for it, rested a careful hand on the man's shoulder. Sev's muscles were tensed up as if he were going to jump up and run away any moment.

"What is it? What do you wish?"

Sev met his eyes. "I wish you wouldn't ask me to do that," he almost whispered.

"What do you mean?" Malcolm asked, but the words weren't out of his mouth yet when it suddenly started to make sense, in a twisted, nasty way. He had refused the receptionist's offer to put Sev and his family into the storeroom, had demanded that they stay with him when it was obviously a Kareedian custom that servants did not sleep in the same room as their masters, except... Malcolm felt sick, and disgusted with his own stupidity. How could he expect Sev to take this any other way? And now he had made that comment about not mentioning it to the children.

"Listen," he said, sounding a lot calmer than he felt. "I'm not asking you to do any such thing. I don't... that's not my cup of tea, either. All I was going to say is that I need to talk to you. It's... important, and that's why I don't want Sammy and Sara to know. They'll be safer that way."

While Malcolm had spoken, Sev's features had first relaxed in obvious relief, then his face took on an expression of shame. He bowed his head deeply, and Malcolm believed that he would have dropped to his knees again if not for the fact that he was already sitting down.

"Forgive me, sir. I had no right-"

"No, I'm the one who should apologize." Malcolm tightened his grip on Sev's shoulder. "Look at me, please. I feel uncomfortable when you do that." To put it mildly. Truth be told, it made him feel like a complete asshole. Hesitantly, Sev raised his eyes, and Malcolm continued.

"I realize now that when I said I wanted you and the children to sleep in here, you probably thought..."

Sev nodded, ashamed. "Servants usually don't sleep in the same room - or house - as their masters, except when their... services are required."

That was all he said, but the way he looked down at his hands told Malcolm that he knew only too well what kind of services Kareedians expected of their servants. Malcolm pressed his lips together, his anger partly directed towards the Kareedian society in general, partly towards himself. He had, of course, acted with the best intentions when he had insisted that Sev and his children sleep in his room; from what he had seen of the hotel so far, the store room would have been less than comfortable. Still, he had decided that for the moment he was going to stick to the role of the Kareedian master, and a Kareedian master wouldn't care whether his servants were comfortable or not. No wonder Sev had misinterpreted his actions.

"Listen," he said, hoping he was going to do this right. "We handle these things a little differently, back on my homeworld." Malcolm had no idea how much Sev knew about Earth and humans; not too much, from what he had seen so far, but he still hoped that the man wouldn't become suspicious. That was the last thing they needed right now, Sev questioning the role he had assumed. "Where I come from, it's not unusual for servants to sleep in the same room as their masters. I haven't been on Kareedia for very long, and I don't know much about their customs. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize to me, sir." Sev seemed slightly taken aback. "You're..."

He trailed off, but Malcolm knew what he was thinking. You're the master.The boss. The top dog. You don't have to apologize, and you don't have to explain. Stop acting so weirdly.

Malcolm sighed. Sev might look like "one of his own kind", but that didn't mean he thought like a human. He obviously wasn't used to being talked to or even recognized by his master, and the way Malcolm behaved confused him. Scared him, maybe. Still, Malcolm knew that he couldn't act the way Senator V'Lin had acted, kicking a man who was on his knees begging to keep his children. He had never been a good actor, and that was a thing he knew he just couldn't do.

"Well," he said, "the thing I wanted to talk to you about... I'm going to leave the planet in a few days. I'll be meeting a friend of mine - a colleague - but the thing is, I can't do so in a public place. I'm working for a... a secret organization, and it'd be too dangerous. What I'm saying is, I'm going to return the flitter tomorrow, and then we're going to have to walk. It's quite a long walk, I'm afraid."

Sev nodded slowly. "We're hindering your mission," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. Malcolm bit his lip. He couldn't deny it; Sev and his children did hinder his mission.

"Yes," he admitted. "In a way, you are. It's going to be difficult, having the children along."

The look of panic Malcolm had seen before reappeared in Sev's eyes. "You're not...

"No," Malcolm said firmly before the man could continue. "If that were my intention, I could have left them at the Senator's house. We're going to take them along, but it's not going to be easy."

Sev nodded in obvious relief. "That's alright, sir. They're used to being outside."

Malcolm realized that this was another understatement. Because of their dark skin, the children's tan didn't show as much as their father's, but their more or less wild appearance suggested that they were not only used to being outside; they seemed hardly used to being inside.

Malcolm knew that he shouldn't be asking, but the man's offhand comment had piqued his curiosity. "What did you do before... before the Senator decided you were going to go with me?"

Sev paused, obviously surprised by Malcolm's longwinded way of saying "before you were given to me". "I worked on a farm, sir."

"Farm?" Malcolm frowned. The Senator's estate was located in the city, and Malcolm knew that there was no agriculture anywhere in the near vicinity.

"Yes," Sev confirmed. "Senator's V'Lin's father owns several farms. The Senator asked to have me sent to the city so I could be given to you. There was no one to look after the children, so they allowed me to take them along."

"Their mother?" Malcolm asked quietly.

Sev didn't seem to be bothered by the question. "She died several years ago, sir."

Malcolm knew that he was prying and should stop asking these question - he was pretty sure Kareedians never bothered to ask their servants anything - but for some reason, he found himself wanting to know more about this strange man who was clearly human on the outside, but more alien in his thoughts and attitudes than some of the Vulcans and Andorians Malcolm had met.

"And the children?" he asked. "Did they go to school?"

Sev looked at him as if to check whether he was serious. "No, sir," he said carefully. "They also worked on the farm."

Malcolm looked over at the sleeping children and remembered Sara's comment about carrying things much heavier than his bag. He tried to picture little Sammy "working on the farm", and found that he couldn't do it. The boy couldn't be older than four years, five at the most; back on Earth, he would have just started kindergarten.

As he looked back at Sev, he saw the man stifling a yawn and decided to end the questioning for today. They were both tired, and it didn't seem like this conversation was getting them very far. Sev seemed confused by Malcolm's questions, and Malcolm realized that he hadn't really learned anything new about the man sitting before him, except that he had worked on a farm for some time. But these things could wait until they were back in the safety of Enterprise. Right now, it was more important that they were all well rested for tomorrow's walk, which was going to be no picnic; Malcolm had no doubts about that.

Suddenly he remembered something, and a moment later could have kicked himself for his thoughtlessness. Here he was, thinking that he could never be as cruel as Senator V'Lin, and at the same time he didn't waste a thought on the barest necessities of the people he was responsible for.

"Are you hungry?" he asked Sev, still berating himself that the thought hadn't occurred to him before. "The kids must have been starving when they went to bed. Why didn't you say something?"

This time, he saw a small smile cross Sev's face before he answered. "That's alright, sir. I'm sure they can wait until tomorrow morning."

Malcolm took a look at the man - a close look, this time - and saw that except for his muscular arms and legs he was very thin; too thin, almost. Coming to think of it, the kids didn't look very well-nourished, either. Malcolm realized that he had just learned another thing about Sev's family; they were not only used to hard work and being outside, but also to going to bed hungry.

"We'll have breakfast at the restaurant before we leave," he said mostly to himself, and made a mental note not to forget about it, even if they were in a hurry. Sev, in the meantime, had pulled off his shirt and squeezed himself into the small space the children had left. He didn't seem to mind that there was no blanket left for him.

"Wait." Malcolm pulled the bedspread off his own bed and held it out to him. "I don't need two blankets."

Sev hesitated. "Sir..."

"Take it." Malcolm decided to make use of his newly acquired authority for once. "That's an order."

"Thank you, sir." Sitting up in order to wrap himself into the blanket, Sev let his eyes rest on Malcolm for a moment. "You're very kind."

Embarrassed, Malcolm turned away and busied himself with pulling back the sheets. "Nonsense. I really don't need a spare blanket, so why shouldn't you take it."

A Kareedian, Malcolm supposed, would have come up with at least ten good reasons why not, but he wasn't Kareedian. He was human, and even though he had been forced to take on the role of the master, he'd be damned if he was going to treat these people any worse than he had to.

Pulling off his Kareedian soldier outfit, Malcolm decided to skip the washing and teeth brushing routine for once. He wasn't usually in the habit of doing so, but today all he wanted to do was lie down and close his eyes. And truth be told, he wouldn't be feeling very comfortable, going through his usual routine when Sev and his children didn't even have a toothbrush.

Dimming the lights, Malcolm crawled under his sheets and looked over at Sev, who seemed comfortable enough despite the fact that he was all but falling off the edge of the couch. Cats and children, Malcolm remembered someone saying. The smaller they are, the more of the bed they will take up. He smiled involuntarily, glad that in the semidarkness Sev wasn't able to see it.

"Good night," he said quietly. As he had expected, a short, surprised pause followed, then:

"Good night, sir."

Malcolm rolled over and was soon asleep, the day's excitement taking its toll of him.

TBC...

Please let me know what you think!