Twins- 12 Years old

Alex- 28

It's 9am and I can barely keep my eyes open as I walk back to my quarters on board the USS Cassiopeia after a 16 hour graveyard shift in Sickbay as a Junior Medical Officer.

I unlock the door to my quarters and thought at first it was the exhaustion getting to me. I thought I saw my kid siblings eating nachos on my couch.

"Hi Alex!" Max says with his mouth full. I rub my eyes.

"How… why… you two… here?" I am too tired for this.

"We ran away." Ana says smugly and matter of factly. "The Enterprise was just passing by in transporter range so we snuck into the room and just went for it. You don't mind, right?"

"Guys, this isn't a Galaxy-Class ship. It's a Centaur-Class. It's not designed to have families and kids on it."

"We're kids, and we're on it." Max says sarcastically. The last thing this ship needs is a mini-Alex.

"Guuyyss." I mumble, slash slightly whine. I'm trying not to sound mad. I'm not trying to sound impressed. But I feel both. "Ok, you know what? I'm going to take a nap. I am going to wake up at 1 and give myself 30 minutes to eat and shower. And then we'll have a talk. Ok?"

They nod.

"OK?" I press.

"Yes Alex."

"Good."

I go in my room, set an alarm, and am out like a light until 1. When I am showered and dressed, I step out of my room to find that they are gone.

"Computer, where are Max and Ana Riker?"

"Max and Ana Riker are in Corridor 7."

I tap my Com Badge. "Counselor Lopez, are you free for an appointment at 2? I have an interesting situation involving runaway siblings."

"Of course, Lieutenant."

"Thank you counselor."

And so I went to Corridor 7, and eventually found them a little ways off.

"Hi sibs!" I say from behind. They jump. They were touching a screen they should not be touching. "We have an appointment. It would be rude to be late."

"Are we in trouble?" Ana asks with puppy dog eyes.

"No, we're just going to talk with the counselor to explore how and why this happened."

Both twins make a face. I sense disgust.

"No, why can't you just lecture us and we ignore you?" She replies.

Ok so counseling was the perfect idea.

"Because this kind of behavior can be an indicator of a larger thing." I say steadily, trying to channel Mom while almost accidentally mimicking her accent. "Let's go."

And so we show up at Lopez's office. It's smaller than Mom's, it being a smaller ship. Counselor Lopez gets up and greets all three of us, and I sit between them on the couch. They hate me right now.

"So, what brings us here?" Counselor Lopez asks. The twins stare blankly at her. I'm sensing defiance.

"Your side can't be heard if you don't talk!" I remind them.

"Mom and Dad suck, and Alex is cool, so we ran away to live with Alex." Max finally spits out.

"And why do they… 'suck'?" Lopez asks.

"Because I got an F on my math test and they grounded me. That is fascism!" Max snaps back.

"How did they respond exactly?"

"When you get a C or below on something you have to get it signed. So I usually forge their signature. But I left my bag unzipped and they saw it with some other assignments that were… 'signed'… and they flipped out!"

"So you violated their trust by forging their signatures."

"Well… yeah… but I had to! Or else they'd be mad that I got bad grades."

"And how do they get mad?"

"They rant." He replies bluntly. "And rant. And rant. And then our mom tries to psychoanalyze us cause she's a counselor like you. And then she rants."

"And why do you think they rant?"

"Because they don't like us and want to change us to fit their 'perfect child' mold." Ana joins the conversation.

"And what is this mold?"

"Oh, you know. Straighter hair. Blue eyes. A little over 6 feet tall. Doctor." She turns to glare at me.

"And how is Alex talked about at home?"

Well this feels weird for me now.

"Alex is a doctor. Alex graduated from the Academy with honors. Alex would have never done that. I took Alex on an away mission once." Ana said mockingly.

"And is this from one or both parents?"

"Both." She replied.

"What kind of things did they say I'd never do?" I ask, confused.

"Like hacking the replicator or hacking the computer to turn back the clock so we could sleep in."

"Fair." I reply bluntly. At 12 I wouldn't have known how to do those things.

"So why did you run away?" Lopez asks Ana.

"Because I got grounded for getting a C in history!"

"Why did you get a C?"

"Because I don't like it!"

"Ok, this is my question for both of you. Do you think your parents "rant," as you say, because they love you and want the best for you?"

They both nod sheepishly.

"And don't you think that the parent that says nothing cares less?"

They both nod again.

"And so your parents caring about your doing well in school makes your galaxy-class captain's quarters home unlivable?"

They shake their heads.

"And they want you to have the brightest futures possible, so they want you to learn all you can!" Lopez says enthusiastically. She is one of the most motivating people to be around.

The sheepishly nod a third time.

"So how about you two go home, apologize, and keep searching for knowledge." She concludes. They nod. I sense a lot of guilt in both of them. And pity directed at me in Lopez.

The walk back to my quarters was silent. When we get in, I video call my parents and tell them that the twins are safe with me and that they had ran away. Unfortunately, they both fake cry and say that they did it because they "missed me so, so much and just wanted to see me." And maybe because Mom couldn't sense their lies over the video call, she and Dad believed them. And they were off the hook, and I have another graveyard shift tonight. This is a great form of birth control.