Thank you to everyone who read or review the last conversation. You are all fabulous and keep me happy and writing.

Several chapters ago, some of you were concerned with JoJo being forced to write to her aunt. Well, here's the fallout. I have this feeling that this series is going to read better once it's complete.

Also, there was a Freudian slip, that voice recognition software makes very easy, in the last chapter and no one caught it until it was posted. It was supposed to read no Captain has served as their own science officer. I'm in the process of fixing it everywhere as I post this.

Day 58: Scar Tissue

From: Legal Queen of Atlanta

To: LeonardUM

Subject: Thank you for the update

Time arrived: 4/19/2260 00:00:01

Dear Leonard:

Thanks for writing. Yes, I would love updates on what's going on especially because I feel like I'm probably going to hear more from you than from my actual niece and I feel like I deserve that. I'm aware of a lot of my bad choices when it came to my sister.

Dad is still an asshole. And although my now former step mom took him to the cleaners, he still has enough money to get me another step mom. I met Kimber last week. I'm pretty sure she's half my age. Why he doesn't just hire a home healthcare worker instead of marrying trophy wives barely out of adolescence? It would be cheaper in the long run and significantly less creepy. We're only a couple years off from the girls being Jojo's age. That is all types of gross.

I also spoke to Kevin Kirk and he really does have the hook up. For somebody who's not even 20 yet, he's quite insightful and a better friend for Jo Jo then most of her, I assume, former friends. If somebody sends you a Christmas present, you at least say thank you, even if you don't celebrate which wasn't the case with these ungrateful kids.

Don't tell me to say hi to my niece when you can write her yourselves like you should, but won't because I'm not even sure why they're uncomfortable talking to her. Maybe it's the dead mom thing or the name change or any number of things preteen still deal with that us as an adult don't remember how. We think now that life was easier back then, but we are probably wrong. At least now we are clearly responsible for our own choices. Before, a lot of it was out of our hands.

You know I'm not that surprised at teenagers living on a starship are breaking into your office for alcohol and pills. This seems like most of the stupid stuff I did in college. You know rebelling against the tight yoke my asshole father had on me. Big sister got pregnant by somebody without a trust fund and I got stoned a lot. Then I got it together and she fell off the wagon and I was so busy with my own life that I didn't see it.

I didn't see it not until the vintage car was wrapped around the tree. Not until my niece was so damaged that she doesn't even want to bear the name she was born with.

And I'm sorry for that. I should have gone to court. I should have paid for your lawyer myself. I should've openly took your side during the first custody hearing and then maybe we wouldn't be here. Maybe my sister wouldn't be dead, and my niece wouldn't hate me. I don't know. I'm sorry for the choices I made and for the choices I didn't make. That seems hollow now in hindsight. You can't change the past. What is done is done and all you can do is move forward. So how do we do that?

I don't know. I sent like two boxes of Oreos, the giant boxes, and enough chocolate to last the family until at least Christmas. I don't think that's going to make up for what I did or I rather what I didn't do. I didn't do anything, I just watched the spiral. There's not enough cookies and chocolate in the quadrant to make up for what I didn't do. And I am just so sorry.

From: Legal Queen of Atlanta

To: kitten_loverJJMU

Subject: I'm sorry, I'm sending Oreos

Time arrived: 4/19/2260 00:00:01

I'm sorry. I don't know what really to say besides that. I spoke to your friend Kevin a couple of days ago about sending you a care package and he kind of went off on me. I like that friend. He is very protective of you. He's a little bit older than you, but considering he is hopelessly in love with his girlfriend I am not that concerned. OK a little concerned because I tend to fall head over feet for all the wrong people. I'm sure you remember the disaster that was Heather. So many bad choices. I'm good at making bad choices, not so much at making the right ones.

I'm sitting here staring at my PADD trying to figure out what to write to you. I know you're hurting and I feel like it's my fault because I knew something was wrong and I didn't do anything. I should have. I should've got a lawyer and I should have sued your mom for custody, but I was too afraid of daddy taking her side. I should have got you out of there. And I didn't.

I watched you suffer for years. I watched you go through a repeat of my own childhood and I knew it was happening. Maybe not explicitly, maybe not enough to convince a judge, but in my heart, I knew something was wrong and I didn't fix it. Now my sister is dead. And I hate her so much and I love her too and…

I am literally crying right now. I am just…

I love you. I know I screwed up. I don't know how to fix it. I wish I could.

I'm sorry.

PS: I'm sending a care package, a big one. I know it's not going to make up for my previous shortcomings as your aunt, but everyone must start somewhere.

From: LeonardUM

To: Legal Queen of Atlanta

Subject: Re: Thank you for the update

Time arrived: 4/19/2260 19:15:41

I feel like I need to say that if you did change the past, chances are you could end up in a worse future, possibly one where an entire species has been decimated to one percent of their original inhabitants and most of them still have sticks up their asses. So, there's really no point in wishing you could change the past because there's no guarantee that you could do any better even if you know what you did wrong. Sorry, all our current missions fall under the star mapping/exploration category, which means I have time to contemplate the greater meaning of the universe.

Hindsight is a weird thing sometimes. It can make you regret your past decisions, but it can also help you make better choices in the future and maybe that's what you must focus on. I know that's what I'm trying to do with my second committed relationship. I think it's going much better.

Although Nyota does want to look at the email that Jojo sent you to elicit such a response. I won't let her. Of course, part of that is if she looks at someone else's email on ship and doesn't have an actual need to know, Jim is probably going to reassign the entire family to Delta Vega. Three strikes and you're out freezing your ass off. Maybe finding out what your teenage daughter said to her aunt might meet the threshold of need to know, but I don't want to find out. As much as I would like to be on an actual planet again, that icebox is not it.

I want to send you the name of a good therapist in Atlanta because maybe it would help if you talk to somebody. Dr. Margarita recommended a Doctor Alexis Banks. You know it's OK to love and hate someone. It's OK to miss your sister. It's not your fault that she wrapped your car around a tree. It's not your fault that she was abusive to Jo Jo. I know you enough to know that you probably didn't have enough evidence to convince a judge. I know you. If you thought you had chance of winning against the crooked system created by your dad, you would have tried. She had the drinking well hidden. You were there when we cleaned the house. The 30-proof punch in refrigerator. The little bottles hidden in strange places. No one outside of probably Jo Jo knew the truth until it was wrapped around the tree.

The other thing to keep in mind is you can't save someone that doesn't want to be saved. You can't change people that don't want to be changed. Most importantly, you are not responsible for the stupidity of others. Unfortunately, you were the only halfway smart one born in a family of morons. That is not your fault

As for JoJo, just let her be a 12-year-old right now. Let her get the anger out of her system. She needs to let it out. I'm sure she'll send you a thank you email when the candy gets here. The girl has a sweet tooth. Although Dr. Margarita says not to force it, again and let Jo Jo write you again when she's ready. So, it may be a while.

To be continued.