Wisdom of Motherhood

Posted on Sunday, 5 September 2021 - 12:04pm by Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt & Lieutenant Haru Hernandez

Mission: Operation: Lazarus
Location: Security Office | USS Standing Bear
Timeline: MD 10 | 2394

ON:

Haru sat in the tactical chair in the Tact/sec office. He was waiting for Adrianna who would stop just before the away team left. He had some items for her to take over there. He wished that he could come but he was still shaky and still getting back the use of his legs. He was actually glad she was coming by, there was something he needed to speak to her about that was on a more personal level.

Adrianna knocked on the open doorway. She smiled to Haru and then fixed her uniform. The woman wasn't used to her maternity uniform. It seemed too big. Nonetheless, she was focused on Haru, "Morning. You wanted me?"

"Yup!" He spun his chair around. "Alright, so, I got a few things for you to take on your away trip." He motioned for her to sit. "Take a load off."

Adrianna nodded and took a seat, "sure. What do you need?"

Haru wheeled to the shelf and came back. "Have you ever watched the old Earth films called James bond?"

"A few," she replied, "my brothers enjoyed them."

"Then I shall be your Q." He held out devices. "This is...something Eyelaya perfected before she died. A shield of sorts. I have one for each away team member."

Adrianna nodded and then paused to think on how to phrase her next words, "Q's devices were approved. Why do you come to me to get these out to the away team? Why not just give them to us all in one go?"

Haru sighed, "Ulterior motive."

"Being...," she phished.

"Has Mac talked to you about anything personal at all since the wedding?"

Adrianna shook her head, "why, what happened that I don't know about?"

"I think I pushed him too hard. I started talking about weddings and he...pulled back."

"I thought you were--" she didn't know the word, the coffee had only brought 99% of her brain to life, "And now you want me to talk to him?"

"We are bonded by our souls...a Vulcan tradition but not a marriage." He shrugged "No...I just was wondering if he spoke to you. He trusts you and I think that I messed up with this...maybe things are fine the way they are...maybe I shouldn't have pushed."

"Ah," Adrianna nodded in understanding, "you know, I'd take that over marriage, in one sense. Humans are-- we give up on our partners a little too easy, sometimes. A bond through souls, it's something we talk about, but we don't have that. 'The one' is a concept. One I like to believe in, but it's also one I've believed in before Leopold. It's only faith, hope and family tradition, that makes me open to finding it again, and I believe I have and hope he will be my only, now. What I mean to say, is that public displays of affection, which is all a wedding is, isn't what makes you a couple. It's just a party."

"I guess so...I never looked at it that way. I am Vulcan, he is Capellan and he honoured my Vulcan tradition...but perhaps it is the human side of me that holds this...insecurity." He chuckled a little, "I guess it sounds stupid when I say it like that."

"It's only stupid to you. It makes a lot of sense to me," she offered, "insecurity can be exploited but only if you let it. Trust me on that one-- I made a fortune from exploitation at one point, just in other contexts. Maybe try seeing things from his perspective. Last thing you need is for a relationship to crumble because of something that can be helped."

He sighed. "Yeah...He's pulled away so much. I don't know if I can save it. On Capella unions like ours...they are not common. I think that weighs on him too. He can never go home, not because of us but in general and his culture was so important to him. I wanted to do something that was just for him but...I don't know..." He shrugged and smiled a bit sadly. "I'm rambling aren't I?"

"Yes, but I have another 15minutes," she replied honestly, "I know his pain all too well. I risked it and almost got myself, Kingsley and Leo killed. I can't return again," she replied, "there's an old Earth word, Welsh I think, it's 'hiraeth'. It means something similar to home sickness. But it's a homesickness for culture, a feeling, a specific memory, a time. Something much more than just homesickness. It's probably what he feels. People like us, it takes a long time to cure hiraeth, but you never really fully cure it. There will always be something that triggers it to resurface, even if it's a more nostalgic state than in sadness." Adrianna paused-- her point proven as she applied it to herself. Her mother had always nagged her children to go have families of their own and now she would never know of her daughter's marriage or baby on the way. A missing grandchild.

Her words may have trailed off a little but she soon clicked back to the conversation, "if you want to do something, do something. Just make sure it's the right thing and has no root in selfish desires. None. He may even tell you what he needs if you just ask. But I'd imagine that I, nor any of his friends aboard, would adequately be able to answer the question of what can help. That's between you and him."

He sighed. "I guess it's true," he said smiling. "Motherhood brings wisdom."

Adrianna couldn't help but chuckle, "Persecution, life experience and a broken heart bring wisdom-- occasionally they just bring bigger amounts of stupidity, but mostly wisdom."

"It's the mother hormones." He grinned. "I guess I got a lot of thinking to do." He studied her. "Ever thought about being a shrink?"

"I don't want one near my own brain, let alone be in someone else's. Heaven for it that they are more messed up than I," she teased, though there was an element of truth to her words, "I tend to use my powers for evil not good. Although since joining Starfleet, it is reversing a touch."

He grinned, "We are all grateful for all that." He sighed. "So Is it wise you going on the away mission being pregnant?"

"As long as I'm not puking and can still walk without waddling, I'll do as I please," she shrugged, "chances are, this ship is completely empty of beings. I used to work on ships like it, do I know where they hide the key stuff, too. Don't be like everyone else. I'm barely showing and people think I'm not unable to do anything."

"It's not that. Stay close to Mac okay...just in case our sensors are wrong."

"I'll be fine," she replied, "trust me."

"That reminds me...and you're gonna be mad but remember this is Soral the XO not me."

Adrianna raised a brow, "say it quick like ripping a plaster off, but you or him, don't expect complete calm."

He grinned and held out a bracelet. "Transporter module, If things go loopy you're the first one out. XO's orders."

Adrianna chuckled, "pregnancy brain means I forgot it." She stood up, not taking it, "a good XO would give one to everyone, not just someone his personal feelings are interrupting sense towards." She looked at it, "but to help, I'll take it from you, so that as far as you're concerned, I took it. Not a word to the XO."

He grinned. “This is where I point out that he has his own wife’s jacket bugged with an emergency transport chip.”

"I'm not his wife," she smirked, "Leopold would be out of an airlock... By accident... If he tried a stunt like that."

Haru laughed. “Well good luck!”

"Thanks, Haru," she smiled, "when I get back, we'll grab lunch or something. You sound like you need a friend."