12105.25- 19:00 hours - Ravenwood Estate, Earth
The glimmer of dual transport beams filled the foyer of the old house. As their forms solidified, a grin came across Richard's face, who had been eagerly awaiting their return.
"It's about time you two got home." He happily called from the sitting room.
"What are you talking about?" Came the voice from the foyer; "At least we haven't spent the past 3 1/2 months romping around the stars like it's some sort of galactic playground." A female voice teased. As the pair rounded the corner, the older one wrapped her arms around her husband, and they embraced as the younger one walked past them.
"If you need me, I'll be up in my room. I'll leave you two alone to get reacquainted." She teased.
"Wait, Christine, before you go, I have something for you from your sister." He said as he extended out a closed fist. Then, over her outstretched hand, he released a rose gold broach.
"This is like the one grandmother had. I thought that it got lost." She looked at it, astonished.
"While it's not the exact one, Katie found it at a bazaar and thought that you would want it to replace the sentiment of the original." He stated.
"It looks wonderful, moving forward." She stated. Both parents looked at her and then at each other quizzically.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some anatomy homework to finish, and I need to prepare for my labs tomorrow if I want to be third-generation Starfleet Medical. And you two have some catching up to do." Christine made smooching noises as she bounded up the stairs.
Richard turned his attention back to his wife, "What happened at school today?" He asked with a concerned look on his face.
"Somebody accidentally mixed magnesium into a beaker during a lab session, and it reacted." Lynn snuggled her head on his shoulder. "Four of them ended up with glass shrapnel embedded and chemical burns and are spending the night in an infirmary to think about what they've done while I have two staff members and their department head buried up to their necks in incident reports."
"How bad was it?" He asked.
"It could have been a lot worse than it was. Thankfully, no permanent damage to persons or property." She lifted her head to look Richard in the face.
"That's good." He nodded. "So, about Jack..." He said, a look of concern in his eyes.
"About Jack..." she replied. "I hear that you had a visitor at the office today." She quizzed.
"Yes, I did." He stated.
"And how did that go?" Lynn let go and began making her way up the stairs toward her and Richard's room.
"About as well as it could go if you were a concerned mother and found out your daughter had just eloped and not told anyone about it," he said as he followed her up the stairs.
"Oh, they told one person," Lynn replied as her eyes followed the hallway to their daughter's bedroom. "I take it you know it was her that started this whole mess."
"Technically, Jack and Grace did, but she was a willing accomplice." He sighed and followed her into their room, where he shut the door.
Lynn curled up on top of their quilted comforter and asked the obvious question, "So what do we do now?"
"Same thing we always do." He sighed as he changed out of his uniform. "But first, I need some sleep. It's been a long day."
"And a shower, I still say I can smell those special ops guys." She called teasingly after him.
He tossed his sweaty t-shirt at her. "Eww… I was wrong. It's worse." she then threw it into the recycler.
Richard poked his head out of the bathroom, "And no falling asleep without me."
"Then you better hurry." She bantered back. For now, things could be 'normal,' and then tomorrow, they could face the new future before them.
