Katianna sat on the couch with her daughter reading a story. Her daughter always loved a good story, and Kat revelled in being able to do this again. It was a Christmas story and was read whille the lights on their tree twinkled. There was even Christmas music playing softly. Laurissa was in red plaid flannel nightgown trimmed with white lace and she had red slippers on to keep her feel warm. Kat was simply wearing black pants and green turtleneck. She had decided that she might do last minute Christmas shopping after Laurissa was in bed. As she finished the story, Laurissa looked up into her mother's face.
"When will Santa be here?" she asked innocently.
"Not for a little while yet. It's only the 15th of December and he doesn't make his deliveries until the 25th," Katianna smiled.
"Have I been a good enough girl?" she asked, her eyes getting big.
Katianna smiled and pulled her daughter closer for a tight embrace. "Of course you have!" she replied. "I bet Santa will bring you something very special for being so good..."
A big smile lit Laurissa's face. Kat looked into the green eyes that were the same shade as her own, and brushed some of her daughter's auburn hair from her face, leaned over and kissed her on her forehead.
"I love you so much..." she said.
"I love you too, Momma," Laurissa replied.
"How would you like some hot cocoa?" Kat asked.
Laurissa's eyes lit up once again. "With Marshmallows too!"
"Of course!" Katianna replied as she got up and went to the replicator.
"Not too hot!" Laurissa said excitedly as she thought about having the warm drink in her hands.
"Don't worry, Baby, I'll make sure it's perfect for you," Kat smiled.
Just as she came back to the couch, they both noticed a tray of gingerbread cookies sitting on the table and laughed.
"Looks like we'll have a snack to go with this hot cocoa," Kat said as she gave Laurissa the cup her drink.
"And it has those little marshmallows!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, momma!"
Katianna laughed. Her daughter was the one thing that made her happy. "Well, I know how much you love them!"
Kat watched as her daughter took a sip of the drink to make sure it was the right temperature and then set it down on the table to grab a cookie. She decided sitting on the floor next to the coffee table was easier than sitting on the couch if she were going to eat and drink. Kat watched as she took a sip of her own cocoa, marshmallows included. She grabbed a cookie and nibbled on it.
Suddenly, the door chime sounded. This surprised Katianna, especially with who she sensed was at the door.
"Enter," she said.
As the door slid open Toren Len entered the quarters with a couple of presents. "Merry Christmas," he said.
"Presents!!!" Laurissa cried as she got up and ran to him. Then she slowed down and stopped near the couch, her wariness starting to creep in.
"Toren Len!" Kat replied, "Welcome!" she said with a surprised smile. "This is my daughter Laurissa. Laurissa, this is Toren Len, a medic in Sickbay."
"Yeah, I'm a friend of your mom's," he said as he looked up at Kat with that comment. She just smirked. "And I brought you a gift!"
Laurissa looked to her mom and Kat nodded so the little girl went to him. He handed her a rectangular box wrapped in shiny green wrapping paper and topped with a red curly bow.
"Here you go," he said.
"Thank you, Mr. Toren Len," she said with a smile.
"You can call me Len," he said.
Kat's smile grew. She motioned for him to take a seat on the couch.
"Can I open it now??" Laurissa asked excitedly.
"That's up to your mom," Len said as he looked at Kat.
Kat shook her head and laughed. "Sure, you can open it now."
Laurissa's eyes lit up brighter than the lights on the tree. She immediately ripped off the paper. Inside was a slender doll with blond hair and blue eyes. She wore a fancy party dress.
"Momma! This is a Barbie!!" she said excitedly. "I wanted a Barbie!! This is Birthday Party Barbie, isn't she pretty!"
"She's beautiful!" Kat smiled. "Now what do you say."
"Thank you, Len!" Suddenly she got up, ran to him and hugged him. He was a big surprised, but returned the hug.
"You are very welcome."
"And this gift is for you," he said as he handed Katianna a present wrapped in shiny red paper and topped with a gold curly bow.
"You didn't have to get us anything," Kat replied with a soft smile on her face.
"But what better way to bring cheer to someone's face!" he said. "A good surprise always does the trick!"
She opened the gift slowly. As she peeled away the paper she found a book. It was a record book for baby. As she leafed through the pages, she noticed it was specially designed for a three month pregnancy. After that, it had plenty of space for the first five years of the baby's life. And on the cover was a little teddy bear, a big blue bow around his neck surrounded by a few other toys. It said, Our Baby Boy.
"This is fantastic!" she said. "Thank you..."
"I had it made for you since I knew your pregnancy wasn't exactly following the norm for your species," he explained.
"Is that for my baby brother?" Laurissa asked.
"Yes," Kat said.
"Can I look at it?"
"If you're carful..."
Laurissa smiled and gently took the book from her mother and sat down on the floor to look at it.
"How would you feel about getting something to eat with me?" he asked. "So we can maybe talk."
Kat could sense what his intentions were and he was only interested in being her friend."That might be nice," she said.
Suddenly Kara emerged from her room with a few gifts for under the tree. She smiled as she saw Kat and Toren Len and Laurissa. She placed the gifts under the tree when Laurissa asked her to help get the doll out of the box.
"Kara, would you mind getting Laurissa to bed for me, I'm stepping out for awhile," she said.
The young woman smiled. "Not at all," she said spying the cookies and cocoa. "Laurissa and I will drink cocoa and finish the rest of the cookies!"
"Yea!" came Laurissa's resounded child voice.
"Well, then come give Momma a kiss and a hug before I go," Katianna said. Within seconds the four year old was bounding into her mother's arms and kissing her and wrapping her arms around her as far as she could. "Now be good for Kara and don't give her any trouble about going to bed, all right?"
"Okay, Momma!" she smiled. "I'm gonna be extra special good because Santa is coming!"
Kat, Kara and Len all laughed. With that, Kat and Len stood up.
"I'll be back later."
"Have fun, Katianna," Kara said.
With a final smile they left.
They made it to the Promenade and walked around for awhile deciding on Harry's for some food. As Katianna sipped on an eggnog milk shake and munched on some onion rings, Len was devouring a cheeseburger and fries with a cola.
"You know," he began, "I didn't want to talk to you in front of your daughter. I figured maybe you and I could just talk alone... I just wanted to tell you that all that talk about The Order of the Light and the Orb of Kalimar... I'm not really familiar with any of it... I just wanted you to know that. But I understand what you said about it. I mean, it did make sense," he explained.
She smiled. "That's okay," she replied. "I was upset and I forgot that the Order of the Light is virtually unknown to most Bajorans. It's a secret order of sorts... You wouldn't know who they are. But they are suppose to be the good guys only... I'm not so sure now..." Her mind wandered to Jovo in sickbay as she spoke. Though the orb had saved his life, the Order had not warned them of the dark nature of it. That she blamed them for. That's what had turned Jovo into Kalimar...
"Are you all right?" he asked with concern, noticing the look in her eyes.
She looked down for a moment and then back at him. "I'm fine," she replied. "Just thinking..."
"About Jovan Kalimar?" he asked.
She nodded, "And the Order of the Light... They gave us no warning... We thought Kalimar was a prophet. We had no idea he was a Pah-wraith... They didn't tell us what could happen."
He could see the upset in her body language and her eyes. "I can tell you're angry."
"This happened because of them!" she said. "If they had given us some kind of warning Jovo would have known not to rely on the orb's powers so much... He would have known where it could lead! But instead The Order of the Light just left us to our own devices... A lot of the blame rests with them."
He nodded. "Yes... I would agree with you. They should have told you something."
"And here I am pregnant. The man I love was taken over by the pah-wraith powers of the orb within him, and I almost had to kill him... I just can't believe what's happening... I mean, being pregnant is one thing. Being told by a pah-wraith is something else... He knew... He said some pretty vile things to me too... He was going to kill me..." She looked down and shook her head. "That wasn't Jovo, and I know it wasn't... It's just I can still hear the words in my head. I can feel my daughter's fear... I relieve that time over and over again..."
"You realize that's not very healthy," Len said, as he took a drink of his soda. "It sounds almost like you have some kind of stress disorder associated with the event... Maybe you should talk to the station's counselor?" he suggested.
She shook her head. "I don't know... Maybe later..."
"Well, until you decide you can always talk to me," he smiled.
"I do appreciate that," she replied.
"Good!" he replied and lifted his glass. "To new friendships."
She laughed gently and lifted her shake. "To new friendships!"
They touched their glasses and took a drink. If nothing else, Kat knew she had a good friend in Toren Len.