Family Talk

Posted on Tue Apr 7, 2015 @ 1:31am by Captain Tam "Demon" Haican & Sebina Haican

1,510 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Beholder
Location: Haican Residence
Timeline: An hour after "Job Requirements part 2"

Tam sat in their living room, waiting for Sebina to return. While he could feel her presence, he refrained from entering her mind, as she had requested.

He knew that he had messed things up between he and his daughter. He just hoped, as Opal had suggested, that there was still time to repair the damage.

Sebina walked into the quarters, a tad happier perhaps than her father might expect. Maybe happy wasn't even the right word. She was determined. She could face him now. He was planning to leave, well, so was she now. They would be equals. That would show him. See how he liked it to be left alone. But that didn't mean she had any interest in talking to him right now. Sebina looked at her father for a moment and then walked straight towards her room.

Before she made it, Tam spoke up. "Sit down." There was a tone in his voice that contained enough heat to convey that he was serious and would allow no argument.

Sebina sighed dramatically, like teenagers do, and rolled her eyes. She sat down on the couch, pulled up her legs and crossed her arms. Her eyes found her father's. The same eyes that had once lit up every time he came home, when she was a little girl, now looked at him, conveying nothing but annoyance. "What?"

Tam was quiet as he stared into his rebellious daughter. His face betrayed nothing that was rolling around inside his mind. Finally, after a few tense moments of silence, he spoke, quietly yet seriously. "I know that you may think that I don't care about you. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have had a very bad time of things over the last several years. You feel angry towards me. That's fine. Be angry at me if that helps you any. However," his voice started to take on a more scary-quiet-deadly-serious tone. "If you ever disrespect another adult, especially one that is my superior officer, you will learn very quickly how bad of a decision that is. I am very disappointed in you, young lady."

"Okay," Sebina said with a shrug. Like she cared. Well, she did. Deep down inside she was angry, sad and scared. She felt very vulnerable, but it was a lot easier to pretend she didn't care at all. If it looked like she wasn't hurt, maybe she would eventually start believing it herself. "Can I go now?" She hated it when her father acted like this. It was easier if he was just angry and both of them were yelling. His more quiet state unnerved her. She didn't know what to expect.

Tam didn't reply at first. Instead, he continued to stare into Sebina for a few brief, tense, moments. Finally, "When I leave on the mission tomorrow, the XO, Commander Aldrich, and his wife, will be checking in on you while I'm gone. You WILL show them complete respect at all times. Do I make myself clear?"

"Oh, great, a baby sitter." Sebina rolled her eyes and sighed. "Well, if he's anything like you, he'll be too busy to check in anyway. And, you know, if he's nice to me, I might be nice to him too," she added with a sarcastic smile on her face.

Tam was not amused. He slowly stood up to his full height. Fixing Sebina with his dark eyes, he responded. "You will show them the utmost respect, young lady. I will NOT tolerate any of your foul attitude in this manner!" Though his voice was still quiet, his tone stressed just how serious he was. "Go to your room."

"Finally," Sebina said with a dramatic sigh. She had been going there anyway. She still had some unpacking to do and a lot of plotting for her escape plan. But she rather didn't do that with her father around. The
downside to having Betazoid parents was they they could literally read your mind if they wanted to. Now her dad had said he wouldn't do that without her permission, but she definitely didn't trust him with that.

Sebina got up and walked to her room. Living on a space station meant she had no doors to slam shut and at times like this she really regretted it. She picked up her pillow and slammed it against a wall. She hated her life. Nobody probably had a worse father than she had. She was certain of that.

Tam silently watched as his daughter skulked away to her room. While he wasn't actively reading her thoughts, he could still feel the anger and pain that radiated from her. It was a familiar feeling. One that he had been feeling for nearly five years now. He never let on that he felt it, as Sebina didn't need yet more pain on her plate. Instead, he absorbed his child's pain silently. The way a good parent should.

Once he was sure that Sebina was in her room and out of earshot, he made his way to his bedroom and locked the door. He took a few steps toward his bed and fell to his knees, sobbing. "Vena..." he whispered the nickname that he used to call his now-dead wife. "By the Gods! I need you! Now, more than ever!" He pounded the deck with his balled up fists once, then twice. "Please forgive me," he pleaded between the tears. "I am failing our daughter! I don't know what to do!" He dropped his forehead to the deck and continued to sob for the next half hour or so. He then slowly picked himself up of the deck and went to clean himself up and get ready for bed.

By then Sebina was asleep too. Curled up on the floor, with her blanket wrapped around her. While unpacking she had found one of her brother's old stuffed animals. The mouse was missing an ear and an eye, but it had alway been his favorite. Now it was wet because of his sister's tears and she had her arms tightly wrapped around it. She missed those happy days. Way back when her father and her still laughed and hugged, instead of argued and yelled. There was nothing she wanted more than to just have a normal life again, but she had no idea how to get there.

Once Tam got out of the shower, he could feel the change in Sebina's emotions. He knew from experience that the peace he was sensing from her meant that she had fallen asleep. After drying off, he quietly made his way to her room.

Her door slid open, revealing her sleeping young body, curled up on the deck. Tam saw the toy that she was clutching onto, as if her life depended on it, and his heart instantly broke. While he didn't approve of her ill behavior, she was still his baby, and he would do whatever it took to keep her safe. If, along the way, she grew to truly hate him...well...he'd shoulder that burden silently. He was her father and sole surviving parent and family member. It was his duty and responsibility to protect her, no matter the cost.

As he stood there, he saw her shiver slightly in her sleep. Seeing that her bed was made and ready to get in, he quietly moved over to her and gently scooped her up into his arms, much as he used to do when she was younger and their world was much happier. Once he had her secure in his arms, he held her to him briefly, and though he didn't transmit it directly into her mind, he did emit several thoughts and emotions that were full of love and tenderness.

After holing Sebina for a few blissful moments, Tam carried her over to her bed and gently laid her down. He carefully covered her with her top sheet and blanket, just like she liked it. He then paused and looked down into her sleeping face. He reached up and gently moved a few stray strands of her long dark hair that were laying across her face.

Replaying the fight that they had had in his mind, his eyes started to tear up again. He snapped them shut and leaned down to tenderly kiss her forehead.

As he straightened back up, he marveled at just how much like Verena she was, both in personality and in appearance. Not wanting to disturb her sleep, he quietly exited her room. As he stepped through the door and reached up to activate the door controls, he looked back at her sleeping form.

"I love you, Sebina," he whispered softly. Then, after closing her door, he made his way back to his own bed. He had to get up in about four hours for the prisoner transport mission and, though it would be hard to achieve, he had to get as much sleep as possible.

End

Sebina Haican
Daughter of

Captain Tam "Demon" Haican
Bravo Assault Wing Commander

 

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