Disclaimer: If I've told you once, I've told you a million times before… but just in case you've forgotten, I don't own Star Trek.
A/N: So the next two chapters are based on immobility. I'm not sure if I've made it clear enough throughout this chapter. I guess the chapter title is a bit of a giveaway.
Some readers may not like the age gap I've put between Spock and Nyota (which is only 5 years). However, it will put my other stories way out of whack if I change their ages now. Not to mention a lot of reloading. I hope you don't mind.
Reviews are like fish; you keep hold of the healthy ones and release the unhealthy ones back into the water. Don't be the unhealthy fish. Be the healthy fish.
Origins: The Journey Begins
Chapter 15: One, Two, Three… Bend
STARDATE: 2236.97 (Thurs, April 7th, 2236) [8 months, 10 days Pregnant]
The air in Kenya was cool despite the warm ground heated by the African sun. It was a Thursday afternoon and the nearby markets were buzzing with life.
People and species from different cultures and different worlds were gathering around the small colourful stalls that covered the streets. Some stalls sold small trinkets; jewellery, stones and accessories. While other stalls sold hot food or antique furniture.
The Uhura family, including Miotep's mama, known to everyone as 'Big Mama', were strolling down the middle of the heavily populated markets.
Big Mama lived up to her name, not only in size but in nature. Even before Miotep was born Big Mama would take in abused or homeless children and feed, teach and love them until they were old enough to survive the world on their own.
Even when her husband passed away a couple years after Ashantis was born, Big Mama continued to pour love into the children who were rejected by their own families. Many of these children were off-worlders.
Big Mama sported a bushy afro very similar to Nanenna's hairstyle. Her skin was soft as silk yet as dark as rich chocolate. Her quirky personality and colourful attire naturally drew people of all races and cultures to her, and she treated everyone equally and fairly. Until she got to know them of course.
The family couldn't go more than three meters without running into someone or have one of the children scampering off to one of the nearby stalls.
Ahadi was pushing Nanenna in a hover stroller; the latter fast asleep with her purple pacifier and purple plush monkey.
Big Mama was walking alongside of Miotep, their arms linked. Miotep wasn't sure if her mama was supporting her or if she was supporting her mama. Miotep's protruding pregnant belly was just as large as Big Mama's naturally large stomach.
The noise of surrounding barters rose as the family ventured deeper into the eclectic market. The boys' feet kicking at the dust as they ran excitedly from stall to stall.
"Baba! Baba, look!" Sehale exclaimed. He jumped on the spot, too excited to run. He continued to jump happily while he spoke. "HOVER TRAINS!" He was yelling now. They weren't real hover trains. They were small remote controlled hover trains. Something that both the young boys were quite interested in. Sehale's facial features twisted into multiple different shapes as he tried to express his shock, happiness, excitement and disbelief all at once.
"Don't have a stroke." Big Mama jested as she chuckled at her grandson's animated response to seeing hover trains. Her accent was a mixture of Swahili and Egyptian. This made it became hard to decipher her words at times.
Sehale was completely oblivious to Big Mama's statement, pulling on the hem of his baba's shirt.
Denahi, like his brother, was also excited to see remote controlled hover trains. Although, his excitement had stunned him into silence. He was currently grabbing at his baba's hands trying to guide him away from the hover stroller and towards the stall that held the trains.
After Ahadi's hands were finally pried away from the handle of the hover stroller, the stroller continued to hum forward on its own accord without anyone at the helm to guide it.
"Miotep!" Ahadi called back towards his wife as his he was steered further away from the stroller by his sons.
Miotep, upon seeing the stroller drift slowly into the crowd, picked up a brisk walking pace. Her mama right beside her. As Miotep quickened her pace she noticed her mama was also gaining speed.
Miotep had a small smile on her face as realisation hit her; her mama was trying to race her to the stroller; her own heavily pregnant daughter.
"Mama!" Miotep called as her mama passed her and took control of the stroller.
"Binti (daughter), I hope you tell your girlfriends at your pre-natal class that your Big Mama beat you in a race." Big Mama yelled over her shoulder back towards where Miotep was standing.
"Mama, if I weren't pregnant, my body could beat you in a race any day," Miotep said to her mama as she waddled faster to catch up to her.
Big Mama just turned to her daughter. "Trapped beneath this beautiful body," She gestured to herself with one hand, "is a professional athlete trying to escape."
"How many more people do you have trapped in that body of yours?" Miotep chuckled at her own joke. "Because I'm pretty sure the 'professional athlete' isn't the only one trying to escape."
"You're right." Big Mama smiled at her daughter, "Not only do I have an athlete, I also have a weight lifter, professional wrestler, an ex-criminal, and a prison warden. But they ain't trying to escape. Oh no, they're happy just where they are. You just count yourself lucky, you haven't made them angry yet."
"Mama." Miotep sighed with a broad smile on her face.
"Now I want to get my new grand-babies something cute to wear." Big Mama said as she caught eye of a small stall with children's clothes hanging on racks. She cut Miotep off with a jerk of the stroller.
Miotep stopped to allow her mama to pass in front of her before following her into the small stall.
The stall itself was quite tiny but the clothing they had in stock was diverse and bountiful. There were small winter onesies with tails, children's swimwear fit for all species, ear muffs in the shape of Vulcan ears and even hats specially designed for Andorian children. The stall was so full of clothes the racks had been pushed close together.
"Mama, I don't think the stroller can fit." Miotep voiced her opinion as she watched her mama try and force the stroller between a rack of dresses and a rack of skirts.
Big Mama paid no attention to her pregnant daughter. She had been pregnant twice before, not to mention the legal guardian of over 50 other children, she knew what she was doing. "Don't be ridiculous." Big Mama said as she studied the stroller and mentally sized it up against the width of the aisle. With a strong push, Big Mama managed to fit the stroller into the small gap.
"See. It fits." She smiled back at her daughter. Her posture clearly portraying pride.
"Ah-ha," Miotep said as she turned to view the hats and beanies on a shelf to her right.
Big Mama turned back to the stroller and proceeded to push it down the tiny aisle. The further down the aisle she went, the narrower it became. She continued to look at the dresses; pulling out cute green and blue ones before returning them to the wrong spot. She was completely unaware of what was about to happen.
She was oblivious to the fact that she was slowly walking herself into a trap. She finally noticed her dilemma when her foot caught on the wheel of the rack. She looked up to see that the aisle had become so narrow that the handles of the stroller were beginning to snatch items of their hangers. Nanenna was still fast asleep.
Big Mama turned her head to see how far down the aisle she had become but was amazed to see her daughter waddling behind her.
"It seems that we have run out of aisle." Big Mama called out over her shoulder. She couldn't exactly turn around.
"What do you mean?" Miotep asked, then looked ahead to see the blockage. "Oh."
"We need to go back the way we came."
"I told you that you wouldn't fit." Miotep tried to accuse as she started to back up. Giving up after a couple of awkward steps backwards Miotep swings her large frame around. As she does her belly hits the rack of skirts, sending it colliding into another rack. As both racks are falling to the ground the skirt hangers managing to lodge themselves into Miotep's gold and yellow maternity kaftan.
Big Mama was almost wetting herself laughing. Before stood her very large daughter with several items hanging off of her. She looked like a very colourful Christmas tree. The racks were now on the floor with garments of clothing sprawled out around them.
Miotep looks up from her incident only to find the occupants of the entire stall staring at her; some were in shock, some were angry, but most were trying to stifle their laughter. Including the stalls owner, an Andorian female named Freyah.
Freyah was only a couple years younger than Miotep, her blue skin contrasted perfectly with her long white braided hair.
Freyah was once homeless. She was orphaned after her Terran foster mother died from the Andorian flu. Big Mama had taken her in and raised her until she was old enough to care for herself.
Upon seeing her 'adopted mama' and 'adopted sister' she burst into a fit of laughter, causing the occupants of the tiny stall to laugh along with her.
"What on Earth happened?" She laughed as she hoisted one of the fallen racks back onto its wheels.
Big Mama turned to her daughter and grabbed a small black skirt from the tangled mess of Miotep's kaftan. "I found what I was looking for." She smiled and handed the skirt to Freyah.
Freyah laughed harder, took the black skirt and returned to the register, Big Mama following her.
Even though her mama took the whole situation with humour, Miotep couldn't help but feel embarrassed. All she wanted to do was hide, and that's what she did. As Big Mama walked towards the counter with the stroller, Miotep found it the opportune moment to hide somewhere in the stall, away from prying eyes.
On her way to the checkout, Big Mama spotted a white skirt in the same size and style as the tiny black one Freyah was holding. She quickly snatched it off the rack and handed it to Freyah to scan. "This one too, mtoto (child)."
Freyah smiled widely, her naturally white teeth matching her white hair. "Still looking after young children, I see." The Andorian assumed, smiling at her mother figure.
"Always." Big Mama replied, before motioning to the two skirts, "Although, those are for my grandbabies."
"I still can't believe Miotep is expecting twins," Freyah exclaimed as she placed the two skirts into a small hessian bag. "How's Ashantis?" Being closer to Ashantis' age, Freyah became closer friends with her.
"Well. She has found a man. It's only been three weeks, but he seems completely infatuated with her." Big Mama said as she playfully slapped Freyah's arm and wiggle her eyebrows. "He's Australian. Quite a charmer. He will make good-looking grandbabies for me."
Freyah laughed. "Miotep is about to give you two new grandbabies and all you can think about is Ashantis' future children! Ashantis isn't pregnant is she?" Freyah asked, a glint of excitement washed over her face.
"No, not yet. But it won't be long now. Besides Miotep has given me three already." Big Mama chuckled. As she looked lovingly down at Nanenna who had slept throughout the entire ruckus.
"Where is Miotep?" Freyah asked as she realised that she hadn't seen her since she knocked over the racks.
"She is most likely hiding. She does this when she's embarrassed."
Freyah stepped out from behind the counter and began to frantically look for her 'sister'. "She could've gone into labour! She's carrying twins, it's possible she could've gone into labour early! Miotep!" She called as she ran through the small stall searching behind racks. She loved her adopted family and would hate it if something bad happened to Miotep whilst in her stall.
Big Mama chuckled. "She's fine." The Andorian turned to face Big Mama, about to scold her for her casual behaviour when she noticed Big Mama pointing towards the back corner of the stall.
Freyah slowly made her way over to the corner, smiling at customers as she went. When she got to the corner she noticed a pair of slip on yellow sandals in amongst the children's shoes. The sandals were a lot bigger than the other shoes, they also seemed to have a pair of honey coloured feet in them.
Freyah looked up to see Miotep's belly protruding through the rack in front of her. Miotep's face was hidden from view. It was probably flushing a deep dark brown.
Freyah had an idea. She raised her voiced slightly, "One minute, ma'am. I have just what you're after. Yellow shoes, you said?"
She looked down to see Miotep's feet shifting.
"Oh, what size? I don't think we stock shoes that big, oh wait, you're in luck!"
People were beginning to give Freyah strange looks.
Freyah then suddenly brought her hands to the rack and parted the clothes to reveal a very humiliated African pregnant woman.
"Well, doesn't this bring back memories?" Freyah chuckled.
STARDATE: 2217.198 (Thurs, July 17th, 2217)
…Approximately 18 years and 9 months ago…
18-year-old Miotep was walking ahead of her family. Her 'family' was forever changing as stranded children came into their lives and strong, independent adults moved on with their own lives to fulfil.
Miotep was rushing ahead, eager to explore the markets. She was in the company of her mama, her 13-year-old sister, 15-year-old Freyah, 12-year-old Sebastios and his younger brother, Timotai, who was only eight years old.
Sebastios and Timotai were of African descent, they came to the care of Big Mama when they were left for dead after a Cardassian destroyed their village and killed their parents and younger sister.
Now, four years on from the tragic event, the family were visiting the markets. It wasn't long before Miotep noticed Ginora Huckett. Miotep paused in her stride not sure if her friend had seen her in amongst the busy crowd of the markets.
"Isn't that your friend?" Big Mama asked as the rest of the family caught up with her.
"Yeah, it is," Miotep replied.
"Ginny, isn't it?" Mama asked.
"Yeah, why?" Before Miotep had finished her sentence her mama had caught the attention of everyone within a 50-meter radius.
"Ginny! Gin! Yo Girl, over 'ere!" Big Mama's voice was loud and proud, stopping people in their tracks. Miotep covered her face in shame.
"Yoo-hoo, Ginny! 'Ey Girl! What's up, girlfriend?!" Big Mama yelled out over the crowd. Ginora looked around to see Big Mama waving dramatically, her flabby arms almost hitting Sebastios in the head.
"Come over here, girl, and give Big Mama a hug!" Big Mama motioned for her to come over.
Miotep took this opportunity to vanish into the nearest stall, Ashantis and Freyah's gaze following her before joining Big Mama in greeting Ginora.
"Where's Miotep?" The red head asked as she leant into Big Mama's bone crushing hug. After coughing and wheezing Ginora was released from the tight embrace. Big Mama straightened the young woman's clothing and dusted her off.
"She's… oh, she was just here." Big Mama was shocked when she turned to where her daughter should be.
"She went in there." Freyah piped up and pointed towards the stall they were currently standing in front of.
"Search and rescue time, watoto (children)." Big Mama said to her remaining kids.
"Miotep!" Timotai called as the family entered the stall. Timotai took the hand of his brother and guided him to one section of the stall. Even though Timotai had been living with Big Mama for the past four years, he had been traumatised. This left him vulnerable and insecure. Having his older brother by his side always helped.
Ashantis knew her sister well. According to Ashantis, Miotep was very stubborn. She knew that if she found her sister, she wouldn't be able to persuade her out of hiding. She decided to spend her time in the stall more wisely. She was going to do some window shopping. One of the other children will find her. She thought as she pulled out a multi-coloured flared shirt from the closest rack.
Big Mama went straight for the small change rooms near the back of the stall. She'd tapped on the door of every change room and was rewarded with 'someone's in here', 'this one's taken', 'someone's in here', and even a few grunts and growls of disapproval. Big Mama just laughed at those responses.
Even Ginora had entered the stall in hope to find her friend. However, instead of searching for Miotep, Ginora made her way to the register and asked the sales assistant if he had seen her. The sales assistant shook his head; he hadn't seen her. Ginora knew her stubborn friend would come out eventually, so she headed over to where Ashantis was and started to pull clothes off the rack and admire them.
After realising that Ashantis was not actually looking for their sister, Freyah decided to search the stall by herself. It wasn't a massive stall, but it had racks upon racks of items. Miotep could be anywhere. Freyah noticed that Sebastios and Timotai had the west wing and the north wing covered, Big Mama was near the change rooms in the south wing, Ashantis was looking at clothes in the centre of the stall which left Freyah with the Eastern wing.
Freyah searched for Miotep in all of the tiny nooks and crannies of the stall, but still no Miotep.
After 20 minutes of searching the stall, Freyah found Miotep hidden beyond a small rack of clothes in the very corner of the stall. Miotep was pretending to be looking at the clothes but that did not fool Freyah one bit.
Freyah realised that Miotep had not noticed her. Taking the opportunity, Freyah tip-toed up to the rack, knowing that the unsuspecting Miotep was behind it.
"Find anything you like?!" Freyah yelled loudly as she jumped out from behind the rack. Miotep screamed and jumped backwards dropping the purple shirt she had in her hands.
Miotep, being a ballerina, managed to find her footing but grew darker in shade as she realised that her scream had alerted all the customers in the stall. They were staring at her. She picked up the purple shirt and placed it over her head to cover her embarrassment.
…Present Time…
"Come on, sister." Freyah helped Miotep out from behind the rack. She brought her hands to her mouth to stifle her laughter.
Noticing Freyah's failed attempt at containing her laughter, Miotep looked down to see the coat hangers still entangle in her kaftan.
Miotep tried to reach the hangers to rip them off the kaftan before anyone could notice. However, with her belly so large, her arms had trouble reaching down past her stomach to disentangle the hangers near her thighs.
"Care to help?" Miotep said getting frustrated at her situation.
"Can't you reach?" Freyah jested, knowing full well that Miotep couldn't, in fact, reach the hem of her own dress.
"Do you think I can reach?" Miotep's sarcasm was music to Freyah's ears.
"Just pull your dress up far enough so you can reach the hangers."
"I can even get my hands over my stomach, Freyah. I have two babies in there, not just one, you know." She was starting to getting tired and frustrated.
"I'm sorry. Here, sit down." Freyeh led her over to a stool.
"I can't."
"Sure you can."
"No, I can't. It took Ahadi 15 minutes just to help me get seated at the table this morning." Miotep confessed.
"Really?"
"Yes. It took me 20 minutes to get in the car, even with Big Mama's help."
Freyah's laughter was coming back with a vengeance; she burst into a hysterical fit of laughter. "You... You can't… Sit down?" She asked between sharp intakes of air.
"No. I'm too big. I can get down if I'm given enough time, but it takes me even longer to get up off of things. It takes Ahadi half an hour to help me out of bed every morning. Can you stop laughing and help me?!" She semi-yelled not wanting to draw any more attention to herself.
Freyah bent over with ease and unhooked the hangers from the bottom of Miotep's kaftan. Big Mama had made her way through the stall and stopped when she saw Freyah assisting her daughter.
"I see my daughter has you bowing to her will." Big Mama chuckled at her own little joke.
"Her wish is my command." Freyah played on the joke.
"Whatever you do, don't ask her to sit down." Big Mama said as she guided the hover stroller outside.
