Arriving Home

Logan and Bridie arrived at the Starfleet building just as the evening was approaching. Everything was quiet as they stepped through the front doors and Ensign Demarco looked up from her console and acknowledged the Commander’s arrival.

“Hello Ensign….” Logan said. “….How have you been these past couple of weeks ?”

“Things have been quiet sir.” The Human\Vulcan\Klingon replied. “You’ve not missed much.”

“This is my daughter Bridie.” Logan stated, looking back towards her. “She’ll need to be processed so she can access the office.”

“I’ll see that she’s taken care of.” Demarco replied. “If you would come with me Miss.”

Bridie looked at her father and then stepped forward and followed Demarco into a side room. As Demarco left her station, she pressed a button on the console.

Logan headed for the internal access door and stepped through, heading for the living quarters. As he entered the room, everything was dark.

“Lig...” Logan started to say, the computer not reacting. Instead someone pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. Logan’s first instinct was to fight back, but his assailant already had him pinned to the floor.

“Hello Rahel…..” He said instead. “I see you’ve lost none of your instincts.”

“But I have missed you.” Rahel’s soft voice said back, before she kissed him passionately.

The two lovers lay entangled on the floor for what seemed like seconds, but suddenly the door opened and the light from the corridor illuminated the two half clothed figures on the floor. Attempting to regain their composures, they staggered to their feet.

“Light.” Rahel announced.

In the doorway stood Ensign Demarco and Bridie. The Ensign almost looked as if she was amused at seeing the two officer attempt to untangle themselves, whilst Bridie just giggled.

“Thank you Ensign.” Logan said.

Ensign Demarco turned and headed back to her post on the front desk. Logan was sure he could hear her chuckling as she walked away.

“Come in Bridie.” Logan suggested, looking at his daughter standing in the doorway. “Bridie, I’d like you to meet Rahel.”

“Hello.” Rahel said, stepping forward. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, your father has spoken of you often.”

At first Bridie looked puzzled as if she’d not fully understood what Rahel had said. Infact she was still getting used to the notion that Logan was her father.

“ Logan has told me a lot about you as well.” Bridie finally answered. “I…….I’m glad that you’re OK now, I know Logan was worried about you whilst he was away. I’m sorry that I took him away from you.”

“That’s OK Bridie.” Rahel replied. “I know just how much you mean to Logan. Would you like to see you room ?”

“Sure.” Bridie replied, a small smile crossing her face.

The two girls headed off towards the far side of the apartment and through a door which wasn’t there the last time Logan had been home. The one advantage of Starfleet field offices was it’s modular design, which made them both easy to construct and alter. Logan and Rahel’s quarters were infact made up of two modular rooms.

The door led to a narrow corridor, which in turn led to the adjacent room. This room had originally been a vacant storeroom, but over the past three days had been transformed into a living space for Bridie.

As Bridie looked around to room, she stood mouth open. The room had been split into two sections, the first the one they were standing in was a living space, with a desk and computer console in the corner.

“This is my room ?” She announced. “I never had this much space onboard the ships I was on.”

“One of the advantages of being on a land-base.” Rahel stated. “Your bedroom is to the right, with a bathroom next door.”

“My own bathroom !” Bridie said almost in shock. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Rahel replied.

The door back to the main quarters opened, with Logan and another man coming through. Between them they were carrying the large travel chest that contained all of Bridie’s possessions, which had been transported across from the spaceport. They placed the chest on the floor and looked around.

“Look who’s here ?” Logan remarked. “You didn’t tell me Ash was here.”

“Bridie, this is my brother Ashraf.” Rahel introduced.

“Ash for short.” Ash replied. “And you must be Bridie, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hi.” Was all Bridie replied.

Rahel could sense that the young girl was beginning to feel overwhelmed, so changed the subject.

“We’ll leave you to explore for a while.” She stated. “Let you get settled in, dinner will be ready in about half an hour, we’ll see you then.”

The three adults left Bridie on her own. At first she just stood looking around, this was her new home, her new family and she started to cry once more. She missed her mum.

Finally, all cried out she wipe the last tears from her face and after splashing some water on her face, decided to unpack the chest.