A father and child reunion

Posted on Tue Feb 24, 2015 @ 11:32pm by Captain Tam "Demon" Haican & Sebina Haican

2,054 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Beholder
Location: DS5, promenade
Timeline: MD01 0830

Sebina put down the book she was reading as she felt the shuttle change direction. She looked outside and sighed. Out of the window she saw the space station. Deep Space five, her new home. She wondered how long they would stay here. The young Betazoid hated moving. She hated leaving her friends behind, leaving her familiar environment, packing, unpacking. All horrible.

Yet this had been her fate ever since her mother and brother died. Her father, Tam Haican, had dragged her all over the galaxy ever since. He just didn't understand her. Her friends weren't bad influences and she wasn't nearly as much trouble as some of the others. Okay, maybe trying to steal that shuttle wasn't exactly the brightest idea they had. Sebina smirked as she thought about how they had almost successfully done so too. And it was not as if they were going to do anything dangerous with it. Just fly around a bit. Wasn't that what those things were for anyway?

Sebina shrugged and put her belongings in her backpack as the transport docked at the station. She stretched out as she got up. It had been a long, lonely and boring ride. Her father had left a day earlier. She didn't even really know why, but she hadn't questioned it. They rarely had any meaningful conversations these days. To her it looked like he was angry or disappointed with her all the time, so she rather avoided any confrontations.

With her backpack on her back she pushed through the other passengers and left the transporter. A security officer on the station asked for her papers and she silently handed them over. He looked at his computer screen and she could feel him judging her. Sebina didn't know if he had a file on her or not, but she didn't like his glare. He didn't know who she was or what she had been through. Who was he to judge her?

"What?" Sebina finally snarled at him, yet the officer didn't seem too impressed by the grumpy teenager. He handed her papers back and wished her a pleasant stay. Sebina rolled her eyes at him and walked towards the promenade. It was noisy, busy and some of the people around her smelled really bad, but this was home now. "But let's see for how long.."

Tam was standing near the embarkation exit, waiting for Sebina to enter the station proper. Suddenly, he started to feel her strong emotions. He knew instantly that she was in an altercation of sorts. Quickly, he reached out with his mind fully, to ensure that she was safe. After a moment, he sighed in resignation, realizing that she was merely giving attitude to the customs officer.

A few moments later, he saw his daughter step out into the Promenade. Hello, Sweetheart. He spoke to her telepathically. Please tell me that you are not already getting in trouble?

Sebina looked up when she heard her father. While her telepathic abilities were still developing, she was perfectly capable of communicating that way by now, but when it came to talking to her father she usually chose not to use it. It often came too close and there were too many emotions involved. She didn't need him in her mind right now.

"I didn't think you would show up," Sebina said, ignoring his question. "Where there no important meetings to keep you from here?"

Tam knew that this was not going to be easy. He could not blame anyone but himself for that fact. He had not been the father that Sebina had needed for quite some time now. He felt a hot wave of shame wash over him briefly as he thought about what Verena would say if she could see the two of them now.

He quickly pushed those feelings aside. He had to focus of Sebina now. He hoped that it was not too late to repair their relationship.

"No, Sweetheart. No meetings today." He spoke aloud in an effort to show her that he was respecting her wishes about not entering her mind at the moment. "Today is just about you and me, and getting settled in our new home."

"Okay," Sebina said with a slight shrug. That actually sounded quite good. If they had a quiet day together her dad and her could get along. Especially because they hadn't seen each other in a while. Though usually something would come up to disturb the peace, so Sebina was still cautious. Yet her stomach rumbled and told her there were more important things to worry about now. "Could we pick up something to eat first?"

"Of course," Tam held out his hand for Sebina's bags. Once he had them, he looked over his shoulder and out of the crowd, a young human male approached them. "Sebina, this is Petty Officer John Stanton. He works for me here on the station. He will take your bags to our quarters. Also, if you ever need me and can't reach me, give him a shout."

Stanton nodded politely at Sebina and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, young lady."

"Eh, hi." She handed him one of her bags, but kept her own backpack. She rather didn't have some stranger take care of her stuff, no matter how much her dad might trust him. She knew nobody would believe her if anything went 'missing'. Also, she was quite sure she would never call the Petty Officer. She was used to not having her father around and didn't need some other uniformed goon to deal with.

Tam felt his daughter's feelings of annoyance. He addressed Stanton. "Thank you, John. Just leave her bags on her bed." Then he looked back at Sebina. "Come on, we'll go get something to eat."

"Yes, I'm starving." The flight here had been long and boring and she hadn't really packed anything to eat. Sebina looked up. From the outside the station had already looked huge, from the inside it looked even bigger. "Where are our quarters anyway? Are they bigger than on the ship?"

Tam smiled as he started to lead his daughter towards the nearest lift. There was a restaurant on the other side of the station that catered to a clientele more her age that he thought she'd like. As they walked, he pulled a small PADD from his right cargo pocket on his pants and handed it over to Sebina. "Here, this has been programmed to recognize your DNA only. It will give you all the information about the station and surround space that you are authorized to know. It will also act as a locator beacon, in case you get hurt so how and can't call for help. As for our quarters, the are located on deck twenty-four, section seven-alpha. And yes, these are much bigger than on the ship. You'll have your own private bathroom, for instance. Complete with both a shower stall and a separate bathtub."

Sebina looked at the PADD and stuffed it in her backpack. She made a mental note to get familiar with the station as soon as possible. There was no way she was going to walk around with a tracking device on her. She was smart enough not to place herself in any real danger, she thought.

When her father mentioned the bigger room and bathroom, Sebina paid attention to conversation again. "That sounds good!" For the first time since she had set foot on the station she allowed her father to see a smile. A big room and her own bathroom, what more could a teenage girl wish for? Maybe this place wasn't so bad after all.

Tam worried that Sebina would ditch the tracker at her earliest convenience. She had done so once before, when she and the group of kids she had been hanging out with had managed to steal a shuttle for a joyride. There was a part of him that wanted to ensure that she didn't do something like that again, unfortunately, he knew that he had lost that kind of influence over her by his own behavior as late. He hoped and prayed that while here, in their new home, he'd be able to make it up to her.

Unfortunately, again, he had been lost in his own thoughts and had not heard Sebina's reaction to the news about their living conditions.

Sebina shrugged when her father ignored her attempt at being positive about moving again. Fine, whatever. He could be like that. See if she cared. Within a couple of days everything would be back to normal again. He'd be at work and if she saw him, he'd be grumpy. The teen sighed. Only four more years until she turned 18 and could get away from it all.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Tam awkwardly cleared his throat to speak. "Sebina..." he began. "I know that things have not been easy for you since..." he couldn't bring himself to say Verena or Revin's names. As they continued to walk, he sighed, feeling drained. "Though I have tried, I...I know that I haven't been a good father to you." Each word he spoke felt like a dagger being jammed into his already broken heart.

"I'm sorry...I'm so very sorry for treating you as I have. I can only hope that one day, when you're older, you'll be able to look back and see me in a different light, perhaps not judge me too harshly."

Sebina looked away as her father's emotions washed over her. She tried to shut them out, but wasn't strong enough for it. So she fought against her own tears. She missed her mother and little brother so much and she was reminded of them every day. And while Sebina knew Tam couldn't possibly fill the void they had left, she still expected him to. As her father she had once thought he was a hero. Always there when she needed him. But when he didn't live up to her expectations, she felt hurt and disappointed.

When Sebina looked up again, she was conflicted. She needed a hug so bad, needed to be daddy's little girl, but at the same time she was so angry and resentful. So she shrugged again and looked at the floor, not knowing what to do.

Tam felt the anguish and confusion pouring from his daughter's mind. He knew that he had caused a fair amount of what she felt, and was shamed by it. He also knew that there w as only one thing he could do to try and repair their relationship...be there for her.

Finally, they reached the small café that he had wanted to bring her to. It was a quaint little place, complete with a manual operated door at the entrance. Turning to look directly at Sebina, he spoke again. "I'll make you a deal, here and now. While my job and new responsibilities will keep me busy, I promise you that I will spend as much time as I can with you. So long as duty allows, we will have dinner together every night. I will be there when you go to bed, and when you wake up. What I need from you is your word that you will be patient with me when me job does take me away from you. Deal?"

'My job and responsibilities will keep me busy', 'as long as duty allows', 'when my job takes me away from you', it was all Sebina heard. Empty promises again. Nothing ever changed. "So as long as it's not inconvenient to you, you'll be here. That's great to know, dad. I'm glad I'm so important to you." You didn't have to be Betazoid to feel the sarcasm in her words. If she wasn't so darn hungry she would have taken of already, but she really wanted some food now.

Tam sighed, feeling as if he had failed again. Things were so much easier when....things were easier before. He saw that this was going to be much harder than he had originally thought. Feeling defeated, he held open the door for his daughter and waited for her to enter. He would have to think of another path to pursue.

END]

 

RSS Feed