Author's Note:

Hello everyone and this chapter is a bit different from the others. It features Sulu and Uhura so that makes a nice change. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you like the chapter.

I do not own Star Trek.

Loss

Slash, thrust, slash, thrust, slash, thrust…

Hikaru Sulu rhythmically performed some simple training drills with his fencing sword and although he performed them perfectly his thoughts were on something else entirely. He had always needed to be doing something when he was thinking, be it fencing drills, jogging, weights in the gym, unarmed combat practice or even just manning his station on the bridge he had to be doing something and he was doing a lot of thinking right now.

A couple of hours ago he'd received a personal message from his father on Earth. Hikaru had been both worried and eager to answer it, eager because he was getting to hear from his family back home and worried because it could well be bad news. He soon discovered that he was right to be worried because the message was short and painful.

His mother had died.

His father had woken up one morning to find her dead beside him having passed sometime in the night. It was still to be fully confirmed but the doctors were certain that it was due to natural causes and that it had been quick and it was unlikely that she even felt anything. Despite this it was a massive shock since she had only been in her late forties and was relatively young when compared to the 140+ years an average human could now live to. For several minutes Hikaru had just re-read the message in front of him several times trying to believe what it said and then the urge to do something caused him to run and find his sword and perform practice drills to help clear his head.

This lead him to where he was two hours later still practicing while trying to comprehend the fact that his mother would no longer be waiting for him back home. His mother who encouraged him in his fencing and would laugh when he was a child and declared that he was going to grow up to be a swashbuckling adventurer when he grew up. His mother who often took him into the garden and explained the various properties of the plants there on sunny afternoons, who would almost literally drag him away from his various electronic toys and send him outside to actually play in the sun. His mother who stayed with him every night when he was five and was scared that there were monsters under his bed when they had moved house, the women who proudly declared to all her friends that her son was in Starfleet and would one day be an admiral.

Hikaru felt tears welling up in his eyes and his constant rhythm of strokes faltered and stopped as he tried to wipe them away.

"Hikaru?"

He jumped in surprise and spun to see Nyota standing in the doorway and he quickly turned around again not really wanting anyone to see him crying. Nyota came into the room and slowly walked up beside him and spoke gently, "I went to your quarters to look for you and I saw the message you'd been sent so I guessed you'd be here."

He didn't give anything in reply and she put an arm round his shoulders and carried on speaking, "I told Jim that a personal matter had come up so you would probably not be able to make your shift. He said that you were to take as long as you needed and you're under no obligation to tell him what had happened."

Hikaru sniffed before answering, "Thank you."

She smiled and they slowly sat down on the floor and stayed there in silence. Hikaru sniffed again, "I won't even be able to go to her funeral."

Nyota rubbed his shoulders comfortingly and answered, "I know."

It was a sad fact of being in Starfleet that when you were out in space you missed many important family events including the funerals of your loved ones. Hikaru looked at her and spoke again with tears silently streaming down his face, "I want to be there."

Nyota pulled him into a hug and held him, "I know."

They remained that way for hours undisturbed as Hikaru wept light years away from home for the woman who raised and loved him.

PS-So a bit of tearful Sulu/Uhura, brother/sister fluff. The next chapter will be Chekov and McCoy and if anyone as any ideas for a chapter for Spock let me know (I feel like I've ignored him recently).