Mars Station
Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards

It was almost 0300 when the Enterprise arrived at Mars Station. His sleep cycle still erratic from the off shifts he had been working lately, the sound of the ship being docked was enough to rouse Lt. Nenyaht. Realizing that it was not a threatening sound, he quickly rolled over and went back to sleep. He woke again at 0500, an hour before he usually got out of bed. He tried unsuccessfully for a few moments to fall back asleep, then gave up. Might as well get an early start on the day, he thought. Although he had permission to board the Kirk whenever he wanted prior to launch, his first duty shift wasn't until the Engineering officer's meeting at 1700, so he had elected to spend one last night in his old quarters. Unfortunately, they were no longer recognizable as the place where he had been living the past few years. Everything he couldn't part with was packed into two boxes, and everything else had been recycled.

After rolling out of bed, he padded over to the replicator. "Black coffee, hot," he muttered into the console. Ever since he was a teenager, he needed the jolt of caffeine to get himself going in the morning. His father constantly frowned and told him he drank too much of the stuff, but his godmother always came to his defense. She understood the power of black coffee; as she like to say, she beat the Borg with it.

He followed the coffee with a small breakfast of oatmeal, his years of experience as an athlete telling him that that would be the kind of breakfast he would need for the kilometers of running he had planned for that morning. He had never been a distance runner growing up, instead opting for the sprints that helped him train for parrises squares, but one of Coby's fellow security officers—a tall, fit, blond female security officer—convinced him to give the longer distances a chance and go running with her. To his surprise, he actually found that he enjoyed it for more than the company. He had been planning on training for the Starfleet marathon, but he wasn't sure if that was going to happen this year; he didn't know where the Kirk would be the day of the run.

He was about to leave the ship to go running on the planet when he remembered how early it was—the sun wouldn't be up yet, which was usually a good indication of it being too early to go running. And if I wait, he thought to himself, I could look Abbey up before heading back to the ship. Deciding that that was a good idea, he put his plans to go running on hold for a bit and grabbed a nearby PADD, filled with data and equations for the experiments he planned on running on the Kirk's new deflector systems. Before he knew it, a few hours had gone by, with him hardly moving a muscle. When he realized the time, he tossed the PADD on top of his boxes of possessions and grabbed his shoes. It was time to go running.

---

Probably the best idea the civil engineers at Mars Station had ever had was to place sonic showers and clothing replicators at the end of the long running trails that circled the main compound. After his two hour run, Nenyaht was dripping sweat, in no condition to be meeting up with anyone. After a quick sonic shower and crisp new gold uniform, however, he was ready to see if his friendship with Abbey had been able to survive the six years they had gone without saying much to each other. He contemplated replicating some flowers, but decided that might be a bit much.

With a sigh and self-conscious uniform adjustment, he headed over to the nearest computer terminal. "Computer," he stated with authority. "Locate Dr. Abigail Paris."

*Dr. Paris is not at Mars Station,* the computer replied.

He frowned. Maybe she hadn't started work yet; the Medical Academy graduation was only a few weeks ago. "Computer, locate the residency of Dr. Abigail Paris."

*There are no quarters registered to Dr. Paris,* the computer replied.

His frown deepened. Even if she hadn't started work as a physician yet, she should still have quarters on the station. "Show all residencies belonging to anyone with the name of Paris," he commanded.

The screen changed to a map of Mars Station with two buildings highlighted. *There are two quarters registered under the name of Paris,* the computer replied. *Captain Thomas Paris and Captain B'Elanna Torres' quarters are in the commuter complex, section three, room fifteen-a. The residence of the family of Lt. Commander Richard Yosting and Lt. Commander Miral Paris is located in section seven alpha of the residential area.*

Nenyaht groaned. He knew Tom and B'Elanna had a small apartment for nights either worked too late to head back to Earth, and Richard and Miral had been stationed at Utopia Planitia since before Owen was born. He just couldn't figure out why Abbey didn't have quarters, unless her assignment had been changed since last he heard.

"Computer, where is Dr. Abigail Paris assigned?"

*That information is unavailable from this terminal,* the computer replied.

"Some help you are," Nenyaht muttered.

*Please restate query,* the computer requested. Nenyaht just shook his head and started walking back toward the transporter site. So much for that idea.

---

A few hours later, after one last breakfast with Coby on the Enterprise, Nenyaht was on board the Kirk, carrying his two boxes of stuff from the transporter room to his new quarters. Concentrating on not dropping any of his belongings, he almost missed the site of a familiar face walking down the corridor toward him.

"Miral?" he asked the tall lieutenant commander deep in thought reading a PADD.

Her head snapped up, and her surprised expression quickly changed into a grin. "Nenyaht, it's good to see you. I would give you a hug, but it looks like you have your hands full."

"That's okay," he replied with a smile. "So what are you doing on board the Kirk? Checking out the fleet of flyers?"

"Actually, I saw them yesterday. We were just having breakfast with Harry."

"Ah. That makes sense. Hey, I have a question for you."

"Sure," she replied.

"I was going to see if Abbey wanted to go out for coffee or something before the Kirk left, but the computer said she wasn't on the Station."

"Oh, yeah, she's already on board. We dropped her off yesterday after dinner," Miral replied. "I offered to let her stay with me another night, but I think she's had enough of a screaming two-year-old to last her awhile."

"Wait," Nenyaht said, the conversation not registering. "She's on board the Kirk?"

"Oh, I forgot you didn't know. She was offered a position as a flight surgeon on the Kirk, so she transferred away from Utopia Planitia. In fact, your quarters are right across the corridor from hers. Mom made some comment about alerting security as to the dangers of having you two so close, which I don't think Seven found very funny."

Nenyaht was so surprised at the news that Abbey would be aboard the same ship as him that it didn't fully register at first; all he could wrap his brain around was the last thing Miral had said. "You mean Mom's around?" he asked, trying unsuccessfully to keep the reluctance out of his voice.

Paris grinned; she knew the feeling. "Actually, both of your parents are at the Station. I think they wanted to have lunch with you before you left."

This time he did groan audibly. "Both of them? Together? That was never a good idea, not even back when they were still married."

She chuckled in sympathy. "Well, try to be nice. They must both really miss you if they're willing to deal with each other for this long to see you."

"Yeah, I guess," he replied thoughtfully. "Well, I need to get this stuff into my quarters. Are you going to be around for awhile? The launch isn't until 1500. We can catch up this afternoon after I'm done dealing with my parents."

She grimaced slightly. "I'd love to, but I have a class to teach. It was good running into you, though. Stay out of trouble, keep an eye on Harry, and take care of yourself."

He grinned in reply as he answered her commands sequentially. "No guarantees, I don't think the captain needs supervision, and you too. Say hi to Richard and Owen for me."

She smiled and waved goodbye, turning back to her PADD as she continued down the corridor.

As Nenyaht headed toward his quarters, he replayed the conversation in his head. Once Miral's words had set in, that Abbey would be living literally only meters away from his door, he stopped in his tracks, almost causing an ensign to run into him. "This is going to be interesting," he muttered to himself before resuming walking. The ensign, with a perplexed look on his face, shook his head slightly as if to clear it before continuing.

---

Dr. Abbey Paris mentally counted quarters as she made her way down the corridor from the turbolift, still afraid she was going to get lost on the giant new ship. Not for the first time, she found herself wishing that her parents had taken at least a few ship's postings in the course of her life. Maybe if they had, she would have a better handle on getting around on one. She had done her summer cruise while at the Academy and had two rotations in space in her fourth year of medical school, but still had the feeling that she was constantly walking in circles, with deck after deck of identical corridors, doors, and even personnel. Fifty-five hundred crewmembers on seventy-three decks—better get used to it fast, she thought with a sigh.

Arriving at the door, she confidently entered her code and moved to step forward, only to hear the annoying beeping sound of an incorrect code. Clenching her teeth together tightly, she re-entered the code, with the same result.

"Abbey." The voice, familiar in its quiet strength, made the hairs on the back of her head stand up in nervous anticipation. She quickly spun to face him, her eyes widening imperceptibly in surprise. Although she had known at an intellectual level that with their quarters being across the corridor from each other they would undoubtedly cross paths, she hadn't been ready for it. He looked good—better than good, in fact, but he always had to her—slightly more filled out than he had been as a twenty-one-year-old cadet, looking even more like his father, right down to the deep dimples on his cheeks. His arms were filled with boxes, a standard-issue duffle slung across his shoulders, undoubtedly moving in.

"Nate," she finally replied, finding her voice. She had called him 'Nate' since they were kids and she was unable to correctly pronounce his name, and in her surprise, had reverted to that old habit.

He stood there uncomfortably for a moment, the combination of the boxes and the awkwardness of the situation. A thousand possible things to say ran through his mind, from I've missed you to You look well to starting off with the I'm sorry that had been six years in the making. Instead, he found himself saying, "I, um, I just saw your sister."

A flash of disappointment crossed over her blue eyes, gone so fast he convinced himself he imagined it. "Oh, yeah," she said quickly. "We were having breakfast with Harry. She had to get back to the Station to prepare for the class she's teaching in the afternoon."

"Yeah, she said something about that," he replied awkwardly. They both continued to stand there, silently watching each other.

"I still have some unpacking to do and reading that needs to get done before my shift," she finally said, "but do you want to meet for lunch? We can check out the Officer's Mess."

He grimaced. "I can't. Miral just told me that my parents are at the Station and want to have lunch."

"Right," she said with a quick nod.

"Believe me, I'd rather have lunch with you than the two of them together," he added hastily, flashing her a very quick grin. "But what about later? We can meet for coffee in the afternoon, maybe watch the launch from the Mess or the bar."

She shook her head. "I have a meeting regarding my residency requirements at 1400. It'll probably last a few hours, and then I have a shift scheduled to help with flight physicals." She sighed. "Dinner? I might have a brief break around 1700 or 1800."

He laughed bitterly, giving his head a quick shake. "Engineering meeting at 1700. Rain check?"

She laughed slightly at the irony—it was a repeat of their old patterns, both always so busy with their different activities that it was amazing they ever found any time to hang out growing up. She had read the phrase 'rain check' in a mystery novel written a few centuries before and looked it up, finding it appropriate for their constant attempts at scheduling time for each other. They had used it often. Thirty seconds after we meet again, and it's just like always, she thought. "Sure. Rain check." She gave him a half-smile and turned again to enter her code, getting the same error warning as before. Feeling her face flush in embarrassment, she gave a low Klingon curse.

"Abs?" Nenyaht asked, confused. "Did you need something from my quarters?"

She looked up in surprise. "Your…" her voice trailed off as she glanced at the nameplate, seeing his name instead of hers. Her blush darkened as she again swore under her breath.

"It takes awhile to get used to ship life," he said with a wide, teasing grin as she crossed the corridor to her own quarters. "If you want, I can give you my codes, you can stop on by anytime."

She was momentarily taken aback by the offer, before she remembered how easily they came and went in each other's houses and dorm rooms years before. Slowly, an uneven grin emerged on her face. "Your codes, Nate?" she scoffed, a teasing tone in her voice. "I can figure those out in my sleep."

Those dimples were even more pronounced with his wide answering grin. "You're on, Paris." She shot him another quirky grin before ducking into her own quarters across the corridor.