[Future] Converging Threads

[Four Years Later]

[Senior Officer's Quarters - Starbase Athena - Shortly before Alpha Shift]

At the foot of the bed, a pile of white fur snoozed quite happily, only flicking an ear as an alarm beeped quietly next to one of the occupants of the bed. A tousled head of white hair rose from the pillow just long enough for a pale hand to reach out and switch off the alarm clock before Zero Alpha sat up, running that same hand through her hair before rubbing it over her eyes.

"E'lev, it is time to rise," she murmured, nudging the sleeping Romulan next to her. At the end of the bed, Ghost wuffed quietly and rolled over.

"Mmmm... Already?"

With a deep inhale, Jiseth pushed herself up off the mattress. Her hair dangled down, covering her face as she blinked sleepily. After a few moments of internal motivation to wake up, the Romulan slid her knees forward and sat up, brushing hair from her face. She looked over to Zero and leaned in planting a kiss on her cheek before resting her chin on the Augment's shoulder.

"Sleep well?"

Zero smiled softly at the feel of Jiseth's warm arms around her, enjoying the sensation for a moment before extracting herself, meaning to get up and start getting ready for her shift in sickbay when she was attacked by a smaller life form.

"Mom! Mother!"

"Good morning, little one," Zero said to the squirming bundle of three year old burrowing her way into the bed with her mothers. The Augment pulled the blanket away, revealing a giggling, white haired, green eyed little girl.

"Come here, you!"

With a playful snarl, the Romulan wrapped her hands around her daughter's sides and proceeded to tickle her mercilessly. Jiseth herself was laughing as well, enjoying the perks of motherhood and her larger size. Perhaps in some small way getting even for all the times her mother and father had done the same to her.

"What would you like for breakfast?"

With his sleep now well and truly disturbed by the wriggling bodies in bed, Ghost jumped off with a huff. Zero wasn't far behind the canine, removing herself from the line of fire.

"I could have sworn that I did not give her the gene that coded for hyperactivity," the Augment mused aloud as she scratched behind his ears, watching the mother and daughter wrestle with each other.

Once she regained her breath from the tickle assault that her mother had waged on her, Callion grinned up at the Romulan. "May I have bacon, Mom?"

Scooping Callion into her arms, Jiseth planted a kiss on her forehead before holding her out as if she were flying through the bedroom and into the living room. The whole while she made whooshing and vrooming noises. She wondered when the child would request a more accurate imitation of an aircraft's engines as she set her down on the couch.

"Bacon, coming up! I think I'll join you in that, actually... You're so smart you knew what I wanted before I did. What would you like, Snowflake?"

She keyed in the replicator a meal for Callion first. Bacon, yes, but also some fruits, yogurt and eggs. A glass of cool milk appeared on the tray as well. Jiseth's views of nutrition were not nearly as sophisticated as Zero's, but she knew what tasted good at least. Perhaps french toast too if she prepared herself for the pure energy state that Callion would ascend to.

Zero followed her fiancée and her daughter through to the lounge with a faintly amused look on her face. It always amised her to watch the two of them interact with an easiness that she still didn't quite have. It was coming, but slowly. She shared a more intellectual relationship with her daughter. Jiseth seemed happy enoigh to handle the rest of her education.

She followed Jiseth to the replicator, slipping a pale hand around her waist as she considered what to have for breakfast. "Perhaps I shall have... Hot chocolate and a bowl of natural yoghurt with crushed oats and raspberry sauce." As her order appeared in the replicator, she smiled, pressing a brief kiss to the Romulan's cheek before joining her daughter on the couch, trying to keep her breakfast out of bouncing four-year-old hands.

There was a content smirk on Jiseth's lips as she brought the tray over with her breakfast as well as Callion's. There was even a small treat for Ghost that she tossed to him after sitting down on the floor across from the two white-haired loves of her life. The coffee table between them had been a favorite spot for the little one to hide under.

"Alright..." She said after downing a couple strips of bacon, "What would my two geniuses like to do today?"

Zero swallowed the mouthful of hot chocolate that she had just taken, smiling slightly at her love. "I am afraid that I cannot leave the station. I must be able to return to sickbay in the event of an emergency," she replied apologetically. Such were the downsides of being in charge of the station's medical facilities. Even when she was off duty, she was still on duty.

"Mother's been teaching me a new routine in the studio!" Callion burst out, her mouth still full of fruit.

Jiseth's head tilted slightly as her lips knotted to the side. An excursion away from the station would have been preferable. A small family vacation to a nearby star system. Still, their work needed both senior officers in some standby capacity. There was always some flight mishap and therefor some minion who needed a good smiting.

She perked up though when Callion announced what she had been learning on the holodeck. After years, the Romulan was still rather poor at ballet, preferring ballroom dancing of various forms which at times combined rather well with her lover's moves.

"I would love to see what you can do! How does a few hours in the holosuite sound?"

Zero had been watching her Romulan for her reaction, and smiled slightly at the sight of Jiseth perking up a little. Jiseth had always found some form of enjoyment in watching her dance, and now that she was teaching their daughter as well, it was just a little bit sweeter.

"Allow us a little time to digest our breakfast, e'lev," she warned, setting down her cup of hot chocolate. "There is little point in either of us risking contracted muscles when we have so much time."

"I suppose I can be patient..."

What remained of her meal was soon nowhere to be found before she moved to the couch and picked up Callion and setting her down in her lap. She rustled the little one's frosty-colored hair with a slight giggle before leaning over and kissing Zero's lips.

"I sincerely hope there won't be any emergencies today, e'lev."

Zero smiled slightly at her fiancée. "You will not have to be patient for long," she said in an effort to reassure her Romulan. Jiseth could be notoriously impatient at times despite Zero's best efforts.

She set down her cup of hot chocolate and the bowl that had been full of yoghurt on the table before cuddling up to Jiseth and their daughter. "I am also of that view. An emergency would not be welcome when we finally have time that we are able to spend as a family."

"Couldn't agree more."

Resting her head on Zero's shoulder, her left hand took her partner's as the other slowly scratched their daughter's back. Whether on the station or the ship, Jiseth's sense of home always seemed to revolve around the two white-haired Humans.

The Romulan's eyes trailed over to one of their many bookshelves. This one in particular almost directly across the room from them and adorned with several framed pictures of the three of them together. She noted how she had smiled more in the last four years than the remaining since birth put together.

"Hey, Callion? What do you want be when you grow up?"

Callion squirmed happily under her Romulan mother's attentions, seeing as Jiseth always managed to get to the places that she couldn't get to herself. The question, however, made her pause in the delighted purring noises she was making as she turned to look at Jiseth, her head on one side.

"Mother says that I can be anything I want to be!" she said proudly, then her expression turned a little sheepish. "I don't know what I want to be yet."

Jiseth smiled warmly and kissed Callion on the cheek.

"Well, there's no rush, but she's right. Just remember it's not a competition to be the best. Everyone has something to learn and we're both already very proud of our little one, so don't you forget it!"

With her index finger, she lightly tapped on the tip of Callion's nose.

Callion gave her mother a look that suggested that she was reevaluating her previous thoughts about the Romulan's intelligence, raising one eyebrow in an accurate imitation of her other mother.

"I am the best," she stated in a voice that ensured that she wasn't questioning that fact. "This is an established fact. The other children can't keep up with me in class."

"Is that the only measure of a person?"

Her smile softened, but was no less warm. She knew her intellectual inferiority to the two she sat with. The experience she had gained throughout her life, the subtle wisdom, was the only real edge she had. Though she sometimes wondered if there would be a day that she would bore them, no longer able to provide the intellectual stimulation they craved.

"I love you because you're my daughter. What more reason is needed? Your stellar performance is like icing on the cake, though still very important for your future. What matters most is the choices you make, Callion. The things you learn not from a book or lecture."

Jiseth looked over to Zero.

"It wasn't programming that made me get up from the table in the restaurant I met your mother in. It's probably the best decision I ever made. I'm a much stronger person than I was back then. Love has a funny way of doing that. Don't you agree, Snowflake?"

Callion frowned at her Romulan mother, sitting back and considering her for a moment. "You stated that it is not a competition to be the best," she said, slipping into the clipped tones a little more resemblent of Zero. "I informed you that I am already the best and in advance of the others in my class, therefore there is no competition. I did not imply that there is any fault in that measurement."

"Shh…" Zero said softly to the little girl, pulling her into her lap and cuddling her close. Given the lack of affection she had been shown in her youth, Zero was determined that she would shower her daughter in that same affection so that she would never find herself lacking. "Your…" as always, Zero struggled with the more colloquial term, "Mom is simply attempting to ensure that you do not develop my manner of social interaction or view of existence. You must learn to view your life in more than achievements over others. Your superiority is not in question." The Augment looked up at Jiseth with a faint smile. "Emotion is complex. If my memory is correct, then it was curiosity that prompted you to investigate why a medical cadet was attempting to drink themself through the floor."

Nodding slowly, Jiseth brushed a few wayward hairs from their daughter's face. She thought of all the times she had been told by her own parents that she seemed to know everything as sarcasm dripped from this lips. Quickly she learned the value of silence, especially on Romulus. Almost every doctrine and etiquette put high value on going unnoticed until the right moment. Stealth was life.

Here however, she had to open up. Be the compass to help guide her daughter. Show her the direction, but let her find her own way. If nothing else to have her and Zero when all other family simply weren't there. How many years since she had heard the voices of her brothers or sister. Sometimes she wished to give Callion a project in memory augmentation, but that would open too many doors. Suddenly every meal would be dessert even though the Romulan could have sworn there had been plenty of vegetables.

"Curiosity, yes. I had never seen anyone as beautiful... Or as resistant to alcohol. Finally someone in Starfleet that could consume Romulan ale that wasn't Klingon. Not that I detest our furry friends, you just can't hug one without worry of getting stabbed by something. Anyway... I love you, Callion."

"I love you too, Mom!" Callion burst out, hugging her Romulan mother tightly. The older Augment smiled fondly at her love, leaning over to steal a brief kiss from pinker lips. Callion pulled a slightly disgusted face at the display of parental affection, hopping off the couch and picking up one of Ghost's favourite tug-of-war toys. She waved it in front of his nose as if hoping to tempt him into a game, but the canine was well trained, looking over to Jiseth and Zero for permission to engage in any form of play with the child. Zero smiled again and looked to Jiseth.

"Perhaps we should head for the holodecks and allow Callion to burn off a little of her energy?" she suggested. "Does a day at the beach tempt you at all?"

"You know that's something I can't resist. Especially with you, her and the pup involved."

After another peck on the lips Jiseth rose and offered her hand to her partner. There was already a slideshow in her mind of which bathing suit to wear. The Romulan's ego was well-known, but her desire to show off to Zero brought her the most satisfaction. The concept of beauty was difficult for the pale-haired woman and child though she hoped they thought of her when to word was encountered.

"Callion? Would you want to play with him on the holodeck?"

Zero took the hand without hesitation, standing up and tilting her head to one side. There was an expression there, on Jiseth's face, but she couldn't quite decipher it. For the years that they had spent together, the young Augment was finding that learning everything about Jiseth was taking quite a while.

As soon as taking Ghost to the holodeck with them was mentioned, Callion was on her feet, darting over to the hook next to the door where they kept the dog's lead hanging, grabbing it and running back, ploughing into her Romulan mother as she did so.

"Can I hold the lead this time? Please, please, please?"

There came a warm chuckle from her mother with pointed ears as she bent over to rub the child's back.

"Go get your things ready for the day. I'll make sure to bring a treat for a little girl who gets ready the fastest!"

Looking up she winked to Zero before, trying to turn herself towards their bedroom.

"Ready... Set... Go!"

Watching with a faintly amused smile as Callion bolted into the small bedroom that had been added onto their quarters to grab whatever she thought she was going to need on the beach, Zero then watched as Jiseth, who was apparently acting not much older than their daughter, darted into their bedroom. The Augment decided to follow at a much more sedated pace.

"As the individual between us with any sense of fashion outside of our duty uniforms, I trust you to make an appropriate choice for me," she teased, leaning against the doorframe.