Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek. This is as close as I'll get to owning it. Thank God for fanfiction.
A/N: Okay, so this chapter's a little different as it finishes on the flashback, but it still makes sense so it's okay.
Reviews are like piñatas; full of many great things, but I have to beat you to get it out of you. Please, don't make hit you. Be nice, let the candy flow.
Origins: The Journey Begins
Chapter 11: One After The Other
STARDATE: 2236.50 (Fri, Feb 19th, 2236) [6 months, 22 days Pregnant]
"Kickboxer!" Sehale said right before he jumped up from the red footrest, doing his best to imitate a kickboxer mid kick. He landed on the beige shag carpet with a thud but seemed unhurt.
The babies within Miotep's womb had begun to kick… Hard. Every now and then one foot from one baby would jab into Miotep's side followed by a stronger kick that would jab into her ribs.
Sehale got up from the ground and looked over to his brother who was jumping on the nearby lounge.
"Karate instructor!" Denahi yelled as he struck a pose in between his jumping. Although his tight curly hair didn't wave in the wind his shirt would rise and fall, giving the people present a good look at his dark belly.
Miotep was sitting on the opposite lounge watching her children run around, laughing and screaming with giddiness. She was 6 months pregnant and her belly continued to bulge further out. Although she was only 6 months into her pregnancy she was already bigger than what she had been when she was carrying Nanenna.
She smiled broadly, her teeth showing and her eyes twinkling. She was lazily rubbing her abdomen whilst her daughter stood on the lounge beside her, using Miotep's shoulder as an armrest.
"Come on, 'Nenna. What do you think?" Denahi asked while he kept jumping.
"Ballerina," Nanenna said dreamily as she looked at her mama's face. "Like mama."
Miotep just smiled. Her children could make her the happiest mama in the world sometimes. This was just another one of those moments.
Denahi paused his jumping and looked over at his brother, who had begun to run around with his hands over his eyes, kicking his short little muscular legs out in front of him.
Sehale paused his actions when he heard Denahi pause his jumping. Sehale uncovered his eyes and looked at his older brother then over to his mama and sister.
"Ballerina's don't use their legs, 'Nenna," Sehale said as he came over to Nanenna and stopped in front of her.
Miotep burst out into a fit of laughter. She took her arm out from around Nanenna and brought it to her mouth to hide her sudden outburst.
"What is it, mama?" Denahi asked as he came to join the others.
"Legs are the most important part of being a ballerina, Sehale." Miotep managed to say through her giggles. Sehale just looked at her in confusion.
"No, they just throw their arms in the air and spin in a circle." Sehale tried to protest.
"What else doing ballerina's do?" Miotep asked her little crowd as she continued to sit on the lounge and rub her tummy.
"Dance!" Nanenna said as she jumped down off the lounge and began to dance around the room; raising one leg higher than the other than bringing down hard as she continued to gallop around in a circle.
"Twirl!" Sehale laughed and joined in with his sister, laughing and spinning around her.
"Jump!" Denahi yelled as he got up on the lounge beside his mama and started to jump on the lounge once again.
"Exactly!" Miotep said as she braced herself on the lounge while Denahi continued to jump. "Ok, Denahi, stop jumping on the lounge now." Denahi looked down at his mama but continued to bounce slightly.
Miotep gave him the infamous 'Mama Bear Glare.' She narrowed her eyes and brought her lips together in a straight line. Fury etched upon her face and she silently dared her son to keep going.
Denahi knew that look all too well. He knew that whenever he saw the 'Mama Bear Glare' all hell was about to break loose. He stopped immediately. He even looked at his feet in shame.
"Denahi, when I say stop, I mean it," Mama said sternly. Boy she was scary when she wanted to be. Good thing she was happy most of the time.
"Sorry, Mama," Denahi spoke softly as he sat down on the lounge and swung his legs over the side. Sehale and Nanenna were still spinning around laughing and dancing.
"Okay, stop now before you throw up. I'm talking to you, Sehale." Miotep said a little louder. Sehale and Nanenna both stopped their spinning and stumbled over to where there were mama and Denahi sat.
"Ballerinas need strong legs to jump, twirl and dance," Miotep explained to her young children. "Before every dance, I had to stretch my legs to make sure that I was all warmed up."
"You stretched your legs?!" Sehale gasped in shocked. "Did it hurt?"
Miotep chuckled again. "Not that kind of stretching."
"She means like this," Denahi exclaimed as he got off the lounge and bent over to touch his toes. Although his form was all wrong and his knees were bent, he looked adorable. Sehale looked from his brother's demonstration back to his mother for confirmation.
"Not quite, but you're getting there," Miotep said as she too managed to make her way from the lounge to the ground. She spread her legs out either side of her and adjusted her skirt so that it covered her appropriately.
"Mama stretches!" Nanenna squealed with excitement while she jumped and clapped her hands.
"This is just one of the stretches I had to do before every dance," Miotep explained as she demonstrated. Her legs were now completely straight and she raised her hands above her head. Even though she was six months pregnant with twins, she still managed to look graceful as she went through her warm-ups.
Without skipping a beat, Nanenna stopped her jumping and joined her mama on the floor. Nanenna couldn't spread her small stubby legs as wide as mama but that didn't stop her from giggling and raising her hands above her head.
The boys didn't like to be left out of anything fun, so when they saw their sister laughing they, too, sat on the ground and proceeded to join in with the warm ups.
Denahi couldn't spread his legs wide enough. Every time he managed to get one of his legs straight his other leg would swing out in front of him.
Sehale, surprisingly, managed to do a perfect split. Although his shaggy hair kept falling in his eyes. He used his hands to flick the hair out of his eyes but then he would lose his balance and fall backwards.
Ahadi Uhura had been held back at the office. His workload wasn't heavy or demanding but his boss was in need of his presence in order to win a negotiation. Apparently being a direct descendant to Egypt's last Pharaoh seemed to win over people more than being a diplomat.
Ahadi came through the door with a smile on his face. Denahi and Sehale were up in an instant when they heard their father's voice boom throughout the lower level of their home.
"I'm back. Where is my family?" He asked like he has done every other time he entered the house.
"Baba!" Sehale yelled and came out from behind the lounge. His hair flailing behind him as he ran full pelt towards his Baba.
"Baba's home!" Denahi called out and managed to reach his Baba before Sehale. Denahi aimed for his legs and wrapped himself around them, immobilising his father immediately.
Sehale chose to jump and wrap his tiny arms around his baba's neck. He brought his strong little legs around his Baba's waist.
Denahi laughed at his Baba. "Romulans have successfully attacked the Enterprise."
"The Romulans should learn to take it easy on the Enterprise. It's getting old." Ahadi strained to say.
"Never!" Sehale cried.
"Enterprise calls for backup," Ahadi called out hoping his daughter would leap out from nowhere. She didn't.
"Where's my backup?" He asked again. This time louder.
"She's with Mama on the floor," Denahi said and waved an arm in the general direction where his mama and sister were.
"What?" Ahadi's voice was full of concern. "Off. Now." The boys quickly got off their Baba and stepped back. They have never seen Baba behave like this before.
Ahadi's head was running wild. She's on the floor somewhere. Something's gone wrong.
"Mio!" He yelled loudly. Sehale even covered his ears. Denahi almost jumped out of his skin. Sehale turned to his older brother.
"Baba can yell really loudly." He stated to his brother with his hands still over his ears.
"What?! What is it?! What's wrong?!" Miotep shouted in turn as she tried to get herself up from the floor but to no avail.
Ahadi raced towards the lounge where he had heard his wife's call. As he came closer to the lounge he saw his wife sitting in front of the lounge doing a perfect split with their daughter opposite of her attempting to do the same.
"Mio, what are you doing?" Ahadi sighed in obvious relief. He rubbed his face with one hand while the other rested on his hip.
"The splits. Although, I'm finding it rather difficult to get up." She admitted as she looked to the floor. Ahadi came to stand in front of his wife and help her to her feet. The boys came to join their parents in the lounge.
Once everyone was seated on the lounge, Nanenna finding room on her Baba's lap, Ahadi began to interrogate.
"So how exactly did you get on the ground?"
"Mama show us stretches," Nanenna explained on behalf of her mama.
"Right. And why were you doing stretches?"
"Because mama was a ballerina and ballerinas use legs." Sehale clarified.
"I see. What I really want to know is why you were doing stretches in the first place?"
"The babies kicked and 'Nenna said they were ballerina's like mama." Denahi finished. Ahadi's face quickly locked onto Miotep's.
"They kicked?" He asked fully intrigued by the two babies within his wife's womb. He reached out his hand and rubbed his wife's belly.
"Yes. Both of them. Harder than before." Miotep replied. Ahadi gently squeezed his wife's belly and was rewarded with a strong kick.
Ahadi chuckled. "That's my girls."
"That was Baby One," Miotep said as she pressed the palm of her hand up against her abdomen to try and find the other baby. She found the other baby just below her left rib. She guided her husband's hand to where she had hers placed. "This is Baby Two."
Ahadi leant in closer and rested his face against where the baby was. "Hello, Baby Two." He cooed. His other children just giggled.
Suddenly a powerful kick had Ahadi retreating backwards. "Ow! Baby Two!" He rubbed his jaw where he had been struck by the foot of Baby Two. "Where's Baby One? She's nicer to me." He said as he continued to rub his jaw.
The kids were in a fit of giggles. Nanenna was lying across her Baba's lap, her face was red from laughing so hard. Denahi and Sehale were on the other side of mama leaning on each other for support as they continued to laugh hysterically.
"That actually hurt," Ahadi confessed seriously and looked to his wife who was rubbing her belly where Baby Two had kicked.
"You're telling me? Try being on my end; you get kicked from the inside." She replied. "At least she didn't knock you out." She said after a comfortable silence.
"If you're referring to the time when you kick me in the head; I didn't get knocked out I was merely inspecting the floor." Ahadi stumbled over his words. Denahi abruptly stopped laughing and looked at his parents.
"Mama kicked you in the head?" He asked his Baba.
"Yep. She was showing me one of her ballet moves. Next thing I know I was on the couch in my apartment."
"That's because you were knocked out." Miotep laughed.
"What's knot-out?" Nanenna queried.
"Knocked out is like being in a very deep sleep and nothing can wake you," Miotep explained to her youngest.
Nanenna replied with a soft, "Oh."
"Did Baba die?!" Sehale asked excitedly. I've never met a living dead person before. Sehale had a lot to learn about the circle of life.
"Sadly, yes," Miotep answered trying to stifle a laugh.
"Oh, no!" Nanenna gasped.
"That's not possible. Baba is here, which means he didn't die." Denahi clarified the situation. Sehale and Nanenna looked at baba then to mama. Mama burst into laughter.
"I couldn't help myself." She said between breaths.
"You never can," Ahadi responded. "I would tell you the story but I can't remember it."
Miotep composed herself before saying, "I'll tell it. It happened long before Denahi was even born."
STARDATE: 2224.105 (Thur, April 15th, 2224)
…Approximately 11 years ago, 7 months after meeting Ahadi's brothers…
Miotep was in the dressing room of the San Francisco Performance Centre. The roof was low, only a foot between the tip of her head and the grey paint of the ceiling. Although the room was naturally dark the many mirrors reflected the dim glow of the antiqued lightbulbs, coating the room in a soft golden light. It surprised Miotep that such ancient light bulbs were still of use in some places, including this dressing room.
"Miotep Shukura." A beautiful young woman said as she entered the dressing room. The woman was just as tall as Miotep and didn't look that much older. Her skin was so white it was almost translucent and her grey eyes contrasted perfectly with her pixie style flaming, red hair.
Miotep turned and smiled as her friend approached her with a graceful jump of excitement. "Ginora Finch."
"Ach. Don't call me that." Ginora's face contorted at the sound of her full name. "Besides, I can fire you for that now." Her expression of disgust was replaced by a smug smile.
"Yes, of course. Now that you have taken over Miss. Lola's position as the instructor you have the right to sack me. Does that mean I have to call you Miss? Ginora or would you prefer Mrs Finch?" Miotep asked in a teasing tone with a beaming smile plastered on her face.
"Neither are acceptable. Maybe I should change my name… Or marry someone else. Someone with a better name than Samuel Finch." Ginora muttered back.
"Hey, Sam's a nice guy. Even if his surname does paint you in an old and grumpy light." Miotep laughed.
"Maybe I should just go back to my maiden name," Ginora suggested.
"What, 'Huckett'? I think that's worse. No offence." Miotep held her hands up in defence.
"Watch yourself, missy. I can fire you right now if I wanted to."
"What, 20 minutes before the show? Fire your lead dancer? Your best friend? Do you really want that on your shoulders?" Miotep scowled playfully.
"I thought you liked surprises?" Ginora smiled.
"Not surprises like that."
"Ok, what if I said your 'Prince' is waiting for you just outside."
"Ahadi's here?"
"That's 'Prince' Ahadi to you," Ginora smiled.
"He is just a distant descendant of the last Pharaoh of Egypt." Miotep tried to explain as she walked towards the dressing room exit.
"Still a Prince," Ginora muttered under her breath.
"You came." Miotep's soft voice woke Ahadi from his trance. He was standing in the hall staring up all the tall red curtains, women admired him as they passed him wearing leotards and tutus.
"Of course, I came." He answered as he took his eyes off the tall curtains and looked at his girlfriends. "I would've brought you flowers but I knew that you wouldn't have time to admire them before the show." He said walking slowly over to her.
"Oh, ah, thank you… I guess." She managed to say as she frowned slightly.
"So I got you something better." He said as he snaked his arms around her waist and brought her in close to him.
The length of her body was held tightly up against his. He brought his hands from her waist to her face and ever so slowly brought his lips to hers. Their kiss deepened until it became a passionate battle of tongues. Dancers glanced at their lead dancer, double-taking as they passed.
He broke the kiss when he heard a familiar voice. "I can sack you for that." He turned to see Ginora leaning up against the door.
"I can also sack her," Ahadi smiled smugly. Miotep whacked him hard across the arm leaving a nice purple mark against his dark skin.
"Final stretches!" Ginora shouted, loud enough for all dancers to hear. Before heading back into the dressing room.
"I have to go and stretch," Miotep said softly into the crook of Ahadi's neck as she embraced him.
"I can help." Ahadi looked at her. Miotep's expression said 'Don't even think about it.' Ahadi noticed the expression and decided to make himself clear.
"I didn't mean it like that. I meant you could use me to stretch your legs. I'm taller than you so the extra height of my shoulders would be ideal to stretch your legs."
After a few stretches, Ahadi insisted that Miotep show him one of her dance moves just to make sure she's fully stretched.
Miotep made room around her to do a jump. However, during her jump Ahadi had stepped forward subconsciously out of intrigue and was sent barrelling backwards as his girlfriend's foot collided brutally with the side of his face.
Miotep landed perfectly as opposed to her boyfriend who now sprawled out on the wooden floor unconscious. She gasped and ran towards him to check him for injuries. No blood. That's good. But one hectic bruise forming just below his left eye. That's bad. The foot-shaped bruised travelled from the eye down to his mouth. It was most definitely a powerful kick.
"Alright, people, let's get this show on the road—My God, Miotep! What happened?!" Ginora called out as she made her way over to Ahadi's unconscious form.
"I kicked him in the face!" Miotep's voice was full of worry and concern.
"The show must go on. Now get your butt out there! I'll look after him."
Ahadi woke to the sound of tape. As his vision cleared he noticed that he could only see out of one eye. Oh, God, I'm blind! She made me blind!
As he sat up slowly he noticed his left side of his face was covered by a bag of ice. The sound of tape could be heard again.
"You have one thick head, Uhura." Ginora's voice echoed through what was left of his head. "Just one more strip of duct tape and I think the ice will stay in place."
"You're taping ice to my head?" Ahadi's voice was definitely slurred. Hm, probably due to the fact that the entire left side of my face is completely numb!
"Trust me, duct tape and ice look prettier than your face at the moment. I'm doing you a favour."
The show was two and a half hours long with a 30-minute intermission. It was only during the final curtain call that Miotep saw her boyfriend sitting in the third row with a big bag of ice duct taped to his head.
No matter how much his face was in pain he still managed to rise (ungracefully) to his feet and applaud his girlfriend for such a wonderful performance. Even if he never saw it.
