 |
|||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||
Reflections 11 - 12 "NIght Terrors" (Backpost)-=On=- Kitty had made a nest of blankets and pillows under the makeshift tend she'd put up... she'd been sleeping peacefully for most of the night. But now she shifted position and frowned, shifting position again.. she whimpered softly, but she was still asleep. Hannah opened her eyes groggily as Kitty bumped against her. "Mmmhmmm?" she muttered, sleepily. "Mmm..." Kitty was still asleep, but she shifted position again, frowning. She whimpered again, in fear. "You OK?" Hannah said, turning towards her. At Hannah's spoken voice, Kitty startled awake with a cry of alarm. "We're sinking!"she gasped, sitting upright in a rush. "What?" Hannah said, coming awake quickly. "What's wrong?" "I.." Kitty blinked a couple of times, breathing fast, then closed her eyes. "...Nightmare..." she said softly. "I'm sorry.. did I wake you up?" "Yeah, kinda." Hannah shrugged. "You need a hug?" "Uh..." Kitty blinked again, trying to collect her thoughts, and then she nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I do." Hannah smiled, and put her arms around Kitty comfortingly. "You OK?" Kitty was shaking slightly. She nodded tightly. "Yeah... I was just... it was a nightmare, it wasn't real." She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to steady her nerves. "Do you remember it?" "'Course I do, it's always the same... well.. mostly the same," Kitty said softly. "I dream about the time my grandparents' boat was wrecked. I was below decks, asleep. A maddened whale rammed the boat until it breached, and I had to get out of there with the water rising fast. The whole hull breach in the Lounge... I think that's only made it worse." "Oh..." Hannah said, unable to find anything to say." Kitty shook her head a bit. "I've dreamed of it off and on ever since. My grandfather had an operation on his leg while we were in the alternate universe.. well, it's because it was badly broken during the... incident... and never properly healed." "Is he OK?" "I don't know yet," Kitty said slowly, shifting and easing back down in her next of blankets. "I'll find out in a day or two, I think, when we dock. But he's... he's tough, Hannah. My grandfather.. he's like the old proverbial sea captain." Hannah grinned, then put on a serious face once more. "Are these dreams a regular thing?" "Well..." Kitty yawned slightly. "I hadn't had them for a while.. a few years, you know. Then a while back, we took some damage, and the buildheads were creaking in Main Engineering... since then, yeah, pretty frequently. I mean, not every night, just maybe four or five a week." "Wow." Hannah said, concerne. "Maybe you should see the counsellor." "I did, a while back," Kitty said wryly. "It helped a little... until the whole thing with the Lounge and the hull breach there. I just froze up. Just stood there staring at it and couldn't have done a thing. Evans saved my life, when he tackled us both down to the floor. I couldn't do a thing for myself." "Oh, Kit." Hannah said, giving her another hug. "Is there anything I can do?" Kitty smiled sadly at that. "I appreciate the thought, Hannah," she said, hugging back. "I'll be ok. We'll be at the starbase soon... I'm going to go home and visit my grandparents. I think that'll help. I'll get out on the ocean again, for real." "Do you think that'll do some good?" "I don't know," Kitty admitted. "But Grandma doesn't have the nightmares anymore at all, that I know about anyways...." She smiled wryly. "Grandpa can fix anything. I've always believed it, and he's never let me down." "That sounds like a good person to have in your family." "Grandpa can fix anything, and Grandma can make anything." Kitty smiled softly, lying down on her back and looking up at the underside of the blanket making up their tent. "I just hope someday I might get to know my own parents that well." "Where are they?" Hannah said, carefully, not wanting to upset her friend. "Working, I bet," Kitty said, shifting her gaze from the blanket underside to her friend. "My father does some sort of big hush-hush work for Starfleet Command. My mother's a fighter pilot, an ace. One of the best." "You don't get on well with them?" "Well..." Kitty said slowly, "I neither do nor don't. My father shows up for birthdays... They both show up for special days, like graduations and stuff... I mean, I don't really Know them well. I don't spend that much time with them. I write to my mother, simple things about what I'm doing, and she writes back now and then... tells me about the type of fighter she's flying and stuff." "Oh." Hannah said. "I guess you're blessed by your Grandparents then." "They raised me," Kitty said, smiling. "I grew up in their house and lab, listening to them at their work. My grandmother let me learn at my own pace at their terminal, since we moved around too often to keep me in the same schoolgroup. I had a few peers I communicated with through the terminal. She taught me how to play cello. My grandfather taught me how to sail. They're marine biologists." She looked back up at the tent ceiling. "They went to all my performances and events and such. I bet my bedroom's going to be just the way I left it. Do you know your grandparents well?" "My Dad never had time for grandparents." Hannah sighed. "They had nothing to give him, so he ignored them. I met my Mum's parents a few times, but after she died, my Dad never cared to arrange anything so I could see them again." "Why didn't you reach out on your own?" Kitty asked curiously. "I guess I figured that if they didn't want to see me...I didn't want to go through the pain of being rejected by them to my face." "What if they did want to see you?" Kitty asked. "I mean, my mother hadn't planned on having a kid, and my father kind of left me on their doorstep, practically... But my grandparents Wanted me. I'm theirs." "I don't know..." Hannah said. "Don't you think they would have made some effort?" "Maybe they were afraid you'd reject them to their face?" Kitty asked wryly. "If you didn't want to see them?" "I guess..." Hannah said. "Maybe I'll look them up in my offtime." "If you send a message by mail," Kitty said encouragingly, "no possible rejection would be face-to-face, right?" "Yeah..." Hannah said, reluctant to commit. "Hey.. I won't bug you about it again," Kitty said quietly, smiling, eyes half-closing now. "But I really think you oughta give it a try." "Maybe I will." Hannah shrugged END Lieutenant Kitty Black Chief Engineer USS Pegasus Lieutenant Hannah O'Driscoll Chief Tactical Officer USS Pegasus |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||