A Different Time, A Different Place

Posted on Mon Apr 30th, 2018 @ 1:48am by Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*)

Mission: Mission 6 - Azzia
Location: Deck 7 - Sickbay Complex
Timeline: MD 09 09:00
1347 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Cassie sat quietly in the chair watching the man who looked like a shadow of the man she had admired and grown to love as he lay on the bio bed. She had asked to be alone with him for when he woke, they had so much to discuss and it needed to be them alone.

It took a while before the old man stirred and even longer before he regained full consciousness. His eyes lit up as he saw Cassie, but the joy was soon replaced by a deeply rooted pain of grief. "Should you not be with your mate?" he asked softly; even his voice betraying his sense of loss.

Cassie looked up from her book as she heard the soft voice. She hadn't realised that he had been awake and that felt so strange when she had been able to know things before. "He is sleeping." The woman said softly as she slowly uncurled from the chair she had been sat in and set the book aside.

The Vulcan turned his head to follow her with his eyes. "Has it been sated?" he asked, not knowing how long he had been out.

"Yes." She said blushing at the question as she slowly rose and grabbed the tricorder from the side and started to scan him with it. "A lot easier to use than 2243 versions." She said trying to make conversation that weren't connected to her pon farr.

"Yes, they are," Tevir agreed, "why are you scanning me?" He shifted, making an honest effort to sit up. "Where are my grandchildren?" He paused. "Our grandchildren," he amended, "if you want to know them that is. I understand if you do not want to meet them, or our son."

She ignored him for a moment before she looked at him, a hurt expression on her face at the mention that she wouldn't want to know them. "Isaath wants to stay on the ship but Sekat is going to his assignment." She said having spoken to them both,

"Yes I know," Tevir answered softly, looking right at her, "they are both doctors, though Sekat has joined Starfleet several years ago. I wish you had been there to see them grow up. I have three children, though only one is ours."

The woman carried on with her scan checking him over from head to toe trying to think of questions to ask. "You found out about my project." She said ignoring his gaze on her. She didn't need to be bonded to know him, they had been together every day for two years.

"Which project would that be?" He looked confused, as if his old memory was failing him.

"For us to have a child. You found the embryos." She softly lent out and touched his hand in a soft gesture.

Allowing the touch, but no longer craving it, the old man nodded. "I found them," he admitted, "it was all I had left of you and I could not just leave them and not try to make them viable. I found a woman willing to carry one embryo to term, and eventually when I needed to find a mate again, I married her. We had two children of our own. Sekat and Isaath are Sevir's children."

"I know... Isaath has been very open. She's a lovely girl, beautiful and smart. She has shown me decades of photos. You've had a good life." She said trying to smile but the smile didn't reach her eyes.

"I had no choice but to move on Ka'See. You know I would have waited if not for Pon Farr. Witholding myself a mate would have killed me, you know that. I had to, but if I could have waited iwould have. I never stopped searching for you." He reached up a trembling hand to caress her cheek. "Please forgive an old man his sentimentalities...I have never forgotten you. You were always in my thoughts. Always."

“There is nothing to forgive T.” She whispered touching his hand on her cheek. “I was trapped here the whole time. I never left the Ship.” She admitted softly as looked at the lines on his face.

"If only I had known," he whispered in return, "had I known I would have come sooner. Now I know what drew me here, to Azzia. Not just the anomaly....but somehow I must have known to find you here." Tears started to well up in his eyes. "But you are with your love now...you must be with your mate." He drew in a deep, shuddering breath that was filled with grief. "You belong with him now. Go and be happy Ka'See. But do not forget me...or your family? Do not forget us?"

“Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda.” She whispered not having held it against him at any point. Hundreds of Engineers had been through the Ship and they had hidden the problem. “I would have come home.” She said softly thinking back to the last time she had seen him just as grief-stricken. “You're still my family.” She promised touching his lined cheek with two fingers.

"I know you would have, even though your heart never truly belonged to me. You would not have shamed me." He sighed softly. "You are free now Ka'See. As I said...be happy with him. You are likely to have more chance at children with him, than you ever had with me."

The woman nodded and pulled back. That was it, no more words needed to be said she guessed. "I don't think I can have children with anyone. Stuff happened." She said with a shrug. "You have our future and I hope you lived every second of it for me." She whispered tears escaping as she knew it was a goodbye.

"Medical knowledge had advanced a great deal in 150 years," he told her, "you would be surprised what is and is not possible. You were in suspended animation for a long time but doctors told me you are in perfect health."

"I know... I don't know about perfect health." She said softly shaking her head. "Can I tell you a secret?" She wondered sitting back on the chair from where she had been about to leave him for the last time.

"Yes, as long as it will not endanger you," he answered.

"The being that attacked the ship, that drained blood from everyone... it went straight through me... being half Vulcan saved me... it left me feeling cold and I haven't been able to shake the feeling since." She whispered looking at her hands.

"You are still feeling cold? Surely the doctors here can help you with that? As I said, medical techniques have advanced a great deal since you disappeared." Despite his weakness, he looked worried for her.

"It is a feeling. The cloud went through me and nothing." She whispered softly as she stood up. She needed to say goodbye, needed to let him go.

"You never need to be cold again Ka'See." He gave her a fond smile, the kind he had always reserved just for her. "Go, and be happy. I will never forget you and will always cherish you." He touched his temple with his other hand. "A part of you will always remain here, forever."

Cassie let out a soft sob and moved over hugging him for a moment. She needed to hug him one last time, she couldn't let that last teary moment in that space dock as she left him on Vulcan be how he remembered her saying good bye. "You are a good man... I am just sorry I wasn't a good woman to you," She said quickly before disappearing out of the door before she could spill any more of her heart out.

Tevir watched her go, tears running down his cheeks. He closed his eyes, breathing harshly as the monitors beeped steadily. An odd pain in his right side made him breathe even harsher.

OFF::

Tevir
Scientist
Civilian
(PNPC Lhaes)

Cassie McAvoy
Biologist
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)