From: V. Rahul Chandra (vrccan_at_gmail.com)
Date: Mon Mar 19 2007 - 22:40:05 PDT
============ “Discussions and Receptions” Con’t from Kim’s <PROPHECY> “St. Patrick’s Day, Part III” and Rahul’s <PATRIOT> “Nightmares and Activities” ============ Location: EARTH (St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America) Stardate: 2422 [2.7] 0320.0051 Scene: Williamson Residence Kitchen “Good morning,” Catherine called out cheerfully as she walked into the kitchen, a robe wrapped tightly around her body and her hair still somewhat damp from the shower she’d just taken. “Good morning dear,” Nancy said, looking up from where she was making pancakes for everyone. “Just have a seat at the table and breakfast should be ready soon. I sent Marty to get some syrup and hopefully he doesn’t get side-tracked by something on the way back home.” “Does that happen often?” Catherine asked, bemused. “It used to all the time when the boys were younger,” Nancy answered, chuckling with remembrance. “Daniel was the responsible one, if you could call it that. I’d send both of them off on errands and they’d be at the door hours later having gotten into some kind of mischief.” Catherine chuckled. She loved spending time with her mother-in-law and the random little tidbits that Nancy dropped about her husband’s childhood from time to time were great to hear. “Every time you tell me a story they sound like they were that much more of a handful.” Nancy gave her a long-suffering expression as she added another cooked pancake to the impressively large stack while simultaneously adding more batter to the frying pan. “Make sure if you have kids that you have at least one girl,” was all she said and Catherine laughed, taking a sip of the coffee that she’d made herself before sitting down at the table. “Kids…” she said softly, before shaking her head. That was so far off in the future if it happened that she couldn’t even begin to fathom it. She thought back to her reaction when Daisy had been giving birth and wondered if anything had really changed. Her thought process was cut short by Marty appearing at the doorway. “Here’s that syrup you wanted mom,” he said, placing it on the table and sliding into one of the empty seats as he did so. “Heya Cath,” he said looking over at his new sister-in-law. “You’re looking mighty chipper today. I guess not being in prison must really agree with you.” Catherine started at that comment, her heart fluttering slightly as the memory of the fear she’d experienced during that ordeal came back to her. After a few moments though she chuckled, knowing that Marty’s words were just teasing. “Yes, it’s difficult for a lady to get her beauty sleep in prison.” “So what does that have to do with you?” Marty asked, trying his best to hide a grin and not quite making it there. “You’re a warrior, not a lady!” Catherine stuck her tongue out at him. “A woman can be both,” she retorted. “Haven’t you ever read Lord of the Rings?” “Yes I have,” Marty answered. “It’s a wonderful piece of *fiction*.” “Alright you two that’s enough,” Nancy said, shaking her head slightly and laughing at the banter. “Marty, go see if your brother’s awake yet.” “Daniel’s not up yet?” Marty asked, surprised. “What a lazy jerk!” “He might be a bit tired,” Catherine said, coming to her husband’s defense. “He didn’t get much time to rest before we went on our honeymoon, so all the physical activity might be catching up with him.” The couple had told Nancy and Marty about Daniel’s close call over dinner the pervious night, so both of them were already aware of what had happened. “Pah! You’re his wife so you have to make excuses for him,” Marty said as he got up from the table. “I on the other hand am not bound by any such convention.” With that he went out of the room and down the corridor. “Do you really think he’s feeling that bad?” Nancy asked, concerned for her son. “We can always push the reception back a day, or even have it the next time you two are back for shore leave.” Catherine waved her concern away. “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” she said. “Your son’s stubborn about these things anyway so I doubt he’ll want the reception being postponed on his account.” Nancy didn’t get a chance to reply because just at that moment Marty came back in and plopped down in the chair, an extremely pleased look on his features. “He was giving me grief so I got a bucket of water and dumped it on his head,” he said cheerfully, picking up the days news and beginning to read through it. “He’ll be out in a few minutes,” he went on to add. Marty’s words turned out to be true as a few moments later Daniel appeared in the doorway, the whole upper front portion of his body soaked in water. “You,” he said, glaring at Marty. “Are a jerk.” He was clearly not impressed with his younger brother but Marty just gave him a grin in reply. “Have a seat bro, mom’s making pancakes!” he said. Daniel still didn’t look too happy but padded forward and took the seat closer to Catherine who for her part was trying very hard not to laugh. At least until she saw how he looked and then any thoughts of mirth for the moment vanished from her mind. “Are you okay?” she asked, reaching out a hand and gently rubbing the top part of Daniel’s back. His skin looked extremely pale and his eyes were red-rimmed and undercut by dark circles. “I slept like crap,” Daniel admitted, tiredly rubbing his eyes. Nancy placed a mug of coffee in front of him and looked at him with some concern. “Maybe we should postpone the reception after all,” she said. Daniel looked at her, uncomprehending. “Reception?” he asked. “The reception we’re having for you and Catherine today,” Nancy said. “Good grief Daniel! Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about it.” “No no,” Daniel said quickly to placate his mom. “My mind’s a bit dull at the moment. No, the reception’s fine, we can have it today.” They quickly went on to have breakfast which was a stunted affair as Daniel preferred to remain mostly silent while the other three talked about various random things as they ate. Catherine was more silent than usual as well because she was very conscious of the state of her husband sitting right next to her. Something was nagging at the back of her mind and telling her that there was a bit more to this than just a night of poor sleep, but at the moment she didn’t really know what. Breakfast finished in short order and while Marty and Nancy went to make some last-minute preparations for the reception, Daniel and Catherine were left alone in the kitchen. “Are you sure everything’s okay?” Catherine asked, reaching out a hand and gently touching the top of Daniel’s wrist. The marine didn’t answer right away preferring instead to nurse his drink. He debated telling her about his nightmare, but figured that it was a stupid thing to do. It obviously didn’t mean anything and in any case he didn’t even know for sure whether the figure in his nightmare had indeed been Catherine. No, he decided, the best way to handle this was to just ignore it and move on. He smiled tiredly at her. “I’m fine,” he said, taking one hand off the mug and briefly placing it over her hand. “But I think I’m going to try and get a few more hours of sleep in before the reception. Wake me up when it’s time to get ready?” “Sure,” Catherine said, getting up and watching him walk back down the hallway. She had the vague feeling that she should be worried right now, but with nothing really to go on aside from a feeling she really didn’t know what to do. Shrugging it off for the moment, she got up and decided to go see if she could help out with any of the final preparations. ========== V. Rahul Chandra <vrccan_at_gmail.com> Playing... Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Gorman, MD Chief Medical Officer/2nd Officer GATEWAY STATION, GS-2 & Major Daniel Clarkson, MD Executive Officer - Marine Contingent USS PATRIOT, NCC 5781-A & Lieutenant Sevlock Junior ACT Instructor Starfleet Academy, EARTH -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.14/727 - Release Date: 19/03/2007 11:49 AM From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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