Joint Personal Log - Dani, Cmdr Grant, Commo Levine-Grant - Reunion from Afar

Posted on Sat Oct 4th, 2014 @ 8:23am by Commodore Andrea Levine PhD & Danielle Atarah & Commander Logan Grant, PhD.

2,779 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Are You Touched?

Plans change. That is not to say that plans do not need planning, and sometimes comprehensive ones, at that, but they do tend to change, unexpectedly, shift and bounce and sway and jump over hurdles. Or run into them, full-force.

Dani knew this, which is why for every plan she had a backup, and for every backup and redundancy; things were moving along. The talk with Ivanova and Pond gave her time to hack into Cardello's computer core directly, and she took advantage of it, planting what she could, discovering surprises she didn't expect. Zett took care of side that involved the internals of the syndicate, utilizing her colleagues and connections and setting up the groundwork. And Smith, despite sarcastic comments and concerns, was getting ready for his part as well. Everything was moving, and it was moving quickly. There were only a few things left to do, and then one very very big one. A life changer, a reality changer, a plan finalizer.

It was all running smoothly, defying expectations, so when a message popped into her receiver early in the morning, flashing the contents of the new incoming note through her synthetic retinas, Dani's heart leaped in her chest. This required an immediate action. She was hoping to be able to give Andrea a bit of time -- to let her have her time of peace and quiet before all hell must break loose. She was hoping to delay their reunion as much as possible, especially considering the last time.

But it was no longer an option. Whatever she had to tell the angry Commodore would have to be now, because this sort of message was not something one can simply ignore.

So here she was, less than two hours later, finishing her routine "acknowledgement" with the greedy guards in the vehicle in front of the house, walking towards the front door, trying to swallow her dread.

She had to come, and she had to come right now, because as much as Andrea may be angry with her right now, she would appreciate what will come next.

Andrea would have killed her if she didn't come by for this, and Dani wasn't at all sure it would be metaphorical.

* * *

The children were ready for this, whether their grandmother was there or not; whenever the doorbell rang, they would leave everything they're doing and run upstairs, to Andrea's room, and lock the door behind them.

This morning, they had a chance to practice the procedure. Andrea ran to help Anne quickly lift the twins up the stairs and then waited to hear the click of the lock before descending back to the foyer and opening the door.

And then she closed it.

"Open the door, Captain, this is important," Dani's muffled voice urged from the other side of the door. Andrea took a breath, considering latching the damn thing, leaving the woman -- and all the trouble she brings with her -- outside. Away. Far.

And then Dani spoke again, quietly, and despite the muffled whisper, Andrea turned abruptly, staring at the door, her breath caught in her chest, her hand turning the knob all by itself, ignoring the logical warnings to cease.

"W... what?" She heard herself say, her brain fighting internally between the knowledge she heard this wrong and the hope -- oh, the painful hope -- she heard exactly right.

"I can hook you two up for a short chat," Dani was standing with both her palms up, appeasing, and seemed like she was going to bolt at any moment. "Logan," she whispered, quickly looking around. "He's on the Vindicator. Let me in, before these idiots see me standing here like a stupid scarecrow."

Andrea's physical body opened the door wider, letting the younger woman in. Her consciousness was a jumble, however, frantically shifting between hope and confusion and disbelief and back to hope again, in messy little circles, as her body followed the young engineer down the basement stairs silently, trying to catch up.

* * *

"It should work now, if I managed to interpret the message right, and find the right quarters," Dani muttered, holding the screen out for Andrea, who, despite sitting down, still looked like she wasn't quite physically there. "He should answer. I think. It's ... it's early morning, so he should be in his quarters," she babbled nervously. It would be a complete and utter disaster if Dani's already promised call would fall flat. "Unless he's working or, you know, in the shower or someth--"

Her babbling stopped, abruptly, by a sudden cry. The screen lit up, and so did Andrea's face.

"Logan!"

With bleary green eyes, the morning having come too soon and the blaring alarm from his person view screen had startled him awake, he looked on at the screen. "Ann--" he cleared his throat, his voice rough from lack of use during the night before, "Andrea?" he asked and rubbed his eyes, begging them to focus right before he made a fool out of himself.

It was her, his Andrea, and he beamed widely as he adjusted himself at the foot of his bed. "Rochelle said you were alive and ok, but... The Hell with that." He cut himself off, throwing away the horrible nightmares that had plagued him over the months, "You're safe, that's all that matters." Logan gushed as he watched his wife's face flicker about on the screen in front of him.

For a moment, Andrea couldn't speak. She nodded fervently, her eyes filling with tears, her chest refusing to accept the breath that would enable her vocalize the stream of emotions that rushed to fill her entire body. In the corner of the room, stuck somewhere between concern, heartache, and embarrassment, Dani tried to push herself against a wall and give the two some privacy.

"We're okay," Andrea finally managed, tears decorating her cheeks. "We are all okay, all okay now," she smiled, reaching for the screen as if she could reach out and touch him and validate reality, make sure it wasn't a dream. "We miss you so much, Logan. The children..." a knot in her throat choked the sentence away.

"Shhh." He hushed at her ever so gently, his own fingers meeting the cold screen where hers perched, hoping to feel her warmth through it. It was a small comfort, just knowing she was there and that she was alive, that his children were alive. Logan's teeth found his lower lip and his head shook, "I miss you too. You guys are all I think about day in and day out and when the Vindicator found us on that damned planet I felt hope for the first time in a long time. Then it turns out the whole bloody thing is run by Rochelle and Pond and..." His words fell away into the repose between peels of laughter and sobs, his heart unable to contain the emotional restraints he'd placed upon himself any longer.

His family, even Dani, were alive and the sins of the past could easily be forgiven in lieu of the truth that they would all be together again sometime in the near future. Providence had been kinder to him than to some and knew that the war, though it was rumored to be quickly drawing to a close, would leave people in far worse shape. Families had been torn apart, fathers from sons, mothers from daughters and somehow he'd been one of the lucky ones; simply exiled for several months. "I need you. All of you." Logan whispered, his eyes looking back up to the woman he loved. "Even Schlompi."

Andrea laughed through tears, her smile relaxing her features, shedding the lines of stress from her face. Such is life, isn't it? A collection of coincidences, meshed together so tightly, we jump from one to the other like a pinball machine, rushing forward, forgetting it is all so very fleeting, volatile, temporary.

"I'm just happy you're safe," her fingers pressed through the small screen, not caring about the physical confines or the distance, imagining him closer, nearby, feeling the touch through the cold glass. "We can't tell the lies from the truth anymore," she shook her head, her smile fading, "they kept saying the entire fleet was taken over, there were rumors of an uprising that was stopped... and the executions," she lowered her gaze, painfully, not wanting to continue; there will be time to share things -- the hardships, the worries, the pain for lost friends -- now couldn't be it. It couldn't be. She couldn't get into these feelings now, not when he was so far away, when he, too, went through gods know what hell and came out of it, miraculously, another pin in the neverending game of coincidence, and luck, and...

"I wish you were here," she raised her eyes to look at him again. But that wasn't quite right. She didn't wish he was here; she wished she and the children were there -- away from the danger and the solitude, away from the mess, from the stress, from the constant fear for their safety. But it was also the truest wish she had; she wanted him by her side, with her -- with them. She didn't care where they were, as long as they were together.

Logan drew a shaking breath and slowly set about the path of settling himself and the tyranny of emotions that ran revolution through his mind, body and soul. His tongue ran along his lower lip, wetting it as he listened to everything she had to say. It was a nervous habit he'd picked up from a certain redheaded terror. Their redheaded terror. "Don't believe a word you hear, don't listen to the news, nothing." He spoke, his voice a fair bit stronger this time. "Just know that the end of this crap is in sight, everything is going to be ok."

What didn't need saying, at least not now, was that Logan would have traded his soul to the devil on an empty I.O.U if that's what it would have taken to save her, to save them. He knew Rochelle was safe and relatively sound, and while being able to hold the little spark of her in his arms for a short moment to assess that she was really there had been a great comfort, Andrea and his children had been the bigger picture. They needed to be together to heal and recharge their proverbial batteries as a family unit.

"Rochelle said something about the Vindicator heading there for you just as soon as Earth is liberated and she can squeak in without getting us blown to Hell." He offered, his eyes searching hers and her smile became infectious. It felt good to smile, to feel the lines of his face giving way to crowsfeet instead of scowl marks. "We'll be together soon and even if it takes me resigning from Starfleet, we're never separating again. Ever."

Andrea nodded. Except for the possibility of a rescue, Starfleet was as far from her mind as possible; she didn't care where or what leads to the circumstances of the reunion. All she cared about was the result. Together.

From the corner of the room, Dani stirred, uncomfortably, leaning against the wall she was trying to burrow into. There were things that were planned to happen -- things that will happen soon enough, but none of them involved the fleet. She wasn't going to wait for the fleet to come to anyone's rescue, definitely not when she doubted Andrea -- or any specific other person in general -- were anywhere in the list of high priorities. This is going to have to depend on her plan, now, and the conversation between the two emphasized just what is at stake.

"Just promise me you'll stay safe." Andrea whispered, swallowing the knot in her throat, pushing it down again. She can't break now, not yet, not when there are the children to consider and keep safe and strong.

"I am, Andy. I'm safe and I'll stay that way." He nodded, absentmindedly shifting his hand to grace along her cheek. The glass was once again a bitter reminder of the distance between them, but he knew better than to believe it would be the only form of contact they'd ever have again. The shadows shifted and the pale face of Dani drew his eye. He'd hardly trusted the troubled young woman, but Rochelle had sworn that she was making progress and that the tides were turning in their favor. His trust in Rochelle had been forced to become his trust in Dani and he watched the downtrodden engineer with keen eyes that had steadily become flecked with gold as evidence of his sadness and relief.

"You need to do the same. There's a lot of people who need us both in top condition." He grinned, turning his eyes back to his wife's with an emphatic nod. "That crazy little redhead of ours has spread her wings. You need to come watch her." Logan fell back on his training whether he realized it or not, working to further instill hope in the woman he loved, "I don't like the circumstances leading up to it, but she's learned to fly, Andy. You did that."

"No," Andrea shook her head, but her smile expanded, filled with pride, and, finally, with hope. "She did that. And she deserves that."

She could use some of that right now, and she held on to the feeling, clutching at it, refusing to let it go. Rochelle was more than just a colleague, more than a friend. She was family. Andrea was extremely proud of the fiery young Captain, and the knowledge that Logan was on her ship made her more than simply hopeful; it made her relieved. Family should be together, and if not all of it, then at least whichever parts of it that can.

Dani cleared her throat. The sound reverberated, echoing from the bare wall next to her, startling Andrea, who completely forgot the young woman was there.

"I, uh," the small engineer snuck closer, her face red and her expression apologetic. "I'm... I... don't mean to cut this short, but... I kinda need to cut this short." She smiled, or rather, she attempted to smile, but it came out lopsided and awkward.

Logan nodded in perfect understanding, his eyes once more torn away from the perfection that was his wife's endearing face and lain on Dani. "Understood. You get my family home to me, you hear?" the brusque Kiwi rumbled sternly. It didn't matter what sins had been committed, what fouls had been called. It didn't matter who had, and hand't, done what and when. All that mattered now was that Dani follow through and give them all the salvation they so desperately needed.

"I love you, Andy. Tell the twins and Anne that I love them, that we'll all see each other soon." He refused to cry, not now. Not when she needed him to be the pillar of strength that held their family together. "I'll take care of Rochelle until you get here. Okay?" He asked, his eyes begging for her to understand and follow suit, begging for her to hold hope and work on the knowledge that life was going to be restored to good as new.

"I will," Dani nodded, and meant it, she just hoped her plan would work. It must. There was no other way, and she wasn't willing to risk the alternative.

"I love you, Logan, so much," Andrea did cry, but didn't care, letting the tears stream freely on her red cheeks. "We'll all be together soon. I promise. I love you--" She managed to repeat before the screen faded into snow, and then darkened. She kept it for a moment, her hand still pressed to the screen, her eyes closing tightly, as if she could hold on to the image, to the presence, just by willing it.

The screen went dead before he could offer another word, another reply. Logan sat there for a long time in the dark on his own and simply stared at where his wife's face had been emblazoned. Part of him, an awfully big part, suddenly knew just how lucky he was and just what brand of Hell Rochelle had to be going through. At least he knew that his loved ones were alive and would be coming home.

--x--

Commodore Andrea Levine
Professor, Starfleet Academy
Dean of Astrophysics
Tenured Researcher, R&D, Starfleet Command
Federation-controlled Earth

Commander Logan Grant
Counselor
USS Vindicator

Danielle Atarah
Grifter / Thief
Earth

 

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