Homecoming - Christie Golden [10]
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Seven all but glowered. “I completed my report. And I have also been debriefed.”
“How was that?” Poor child, he thought. They had probably raked her over the coals, grilled her on everything conceivable.
“It was brief,” she replied.
The Doctor considered letting her know that she’d [27] come close to making a pun, then let it pass. “I’m surprised,” he said.
“Yes,” she said archly. “As am I. Apparently, my ‘unique position’ warrants no more than forty-five minutes of Starfleet’s time.” She paused. “Icheb has received notification that he has been accepted into Starfleet Academy.”
“Seven, that’s wonderful! You must be very proud of him.”
“I am.”
“But you’re going to miss him, aren’t you?”
She nodded. “I had not fully taken into account what returning to Earth really means. We will all be ... scattered. I had not anticipated that Icheb and I would be separated quite so soon.”
He wondered where Chakotay fit into all this, but said nothing. “And of course Naomi ...”
“Naomi Wildman will be returning to her home, to live with both father and mother. It is an appropriate end result.”
“But you’ve been very close to both these children. You’re experiencing what some people call ‘empty-nest syndrome.’ You’ve got nothing to do in astrometrics, and I know what fulfillment you get out of your work. And on top of it all, you have also never been certain of where you were going to fit in once you return home.” He grimaced a little. “Neither am I.”
She regarded him thoughtfully. If he had had a heart, it would have raced. Even though he knew that her affections were given elsewhere, the Doctor realized that his infatuation with Seven was not going to go away.
[28] “Would you care for an ice-cream sundae?” she asked. He smiled. “I’d love one.”
“I don’t want to go home,” Naomi Wildman stated flatly. Counselor Deanna Troi was surprised at the vehemence she was sensing from the child.
“I don’t blame you,” Troi responded, clearly surprising Naomi. “You were born here. Voyager is your home.”
“You understand,” said Naomi, brightening. “I have Mama, Seven, Icheb ... I don’t need a father.”
“But you might like to have one,” Troi offered.
“Everyone expects me to be so happy about meeting my father, but I’m not. I’m ... I’m scared. Ktarians are scary-looking.”
“Your mother wasn’t scared of him. She thought him a wonderful person. Good enough to marry and be the father of her child.”
Naomi made a face and looked down at her feet, dangling a few inches off the floor. Deanna waited patiently, but Naomi remained silent.
“You know,” Deanna finally said, “we have a lot in common, only backward.” Curious, Naomi looked up. “My father was with me until I was seven years old. You aren’t going to get to meet your father until you’re already seven, but you’re luckier than I am. You see, my father died when I was your age. He never got to see me grow up, graduate from the Academy, learn to be a counselor. There was so much in my life that I wished he had been there for, but he wasn’t.”
[29] Naomi had stopped fidgeting. Her eyes were fixed on Troi’s.
“You’ve got all that time ahead with your daddy. Hasn’t he sent you letters about how anxious he is to meet you?”
Naomi nodded.
“He probably thinks he’s the luckiest man in the universe. Not only is he getting his wife back, whom he loves very much, but he’s getting a beautiful, smart daughter, too.”
A shy, soft smile curved Naomi’s lips.
“You don’t have to love him right away. Love takes time. But don’t you think you could try to like him?”
Naomi thought. “I suppose,” she said. “I just wish he could have met Uncle Neelix.”
“Neelix helped shape the girl you’ve grown into, Naomi. So in a way, your father will get to meet Neelix. And you will never lose your uncle. He will always be part of you.”
And at that, the girl rewarded Troi with the biggest smile she’d seen yet from her.
Chapter 3
TROI SMILED TIREDLY AS Captain Picard handed