Judgement – My Mother's Daughter?
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham
Post Details
On:
Chelsea took Summer to see the CMO's quarters that she shared with Rick. It was more so they could talk but it was also nice to be able to show her what they called home.
As they walked in, Chelsea began to pick up stray items of clothing or things that needed tidying and instinctively put them away.
Summer helped, picking up stray clothes and brick-a-brac, she got to Rick's work table with his half finished wooden plane models. She changed her mind on tackling the mess. He did seem to be a rather messy pup. She then picked up one of Kim's errant stray toys up off the floor, stared at it and smiled. "So when are you planning on having kids?"
"I don't have a timetable mum, Rick and I both want kids but we're not prepared to bring them up on a Starbase. We're both committed here so it'll have to be when we get to the next stage and neither of us has a clue when that'll happen." Chelsea replied openly.
"Kimmy serves us as a substitute for now." she smiled looking at the gadget in her mother's hand. Then she looked over at Rick's models and added with a chuckle. "And Rick... of course. I'm in no hurry for him to grow 'old and serious'. I love him just the way he is and kids would change that - they'll change both of us when they come."
Chelsea and Rick had talked of kids quite a lot but this was the first time Chelsea had come to *that* particular conclusion. It seemed to come out of something in having her mother here.
"Mum?" she asked. "Can i show you something.... I'm wondering if it's genuine?" She fetched the holo-vid that Anika had given her and played it to Summer. Both women stared at it as it played. The Bajoran man, the child running to him, being swept into his arms, the laughter and the love in his eyes. The older girl, the sound of the voice of the woman recording it. It was very poignant.
There came a sudden sniff and summer turned away from the holographic projection dabbing her watering eyes with the edge of her sleeve. She let out a long breath to give herself a moments pause and ease her growing emotion. "It's real" she said quietly "I left for a mission shortly after that was taken"
"He was very handsome wasn't he?" It was a rhetorical question. "It was good to know that he loved us so much." Chelsea fought with the lump in her throat as she looked at her mother with tear-filled eyes. She had no recollection of her mother's affection. She was sure she must have had it, in order to have missed it so much that it had made her so angry with her remaining parent. Or was it just an expectation that she had been denied.
Tentatively, and convinced she would be rejected with a comment on how it was not what Starfleet officers *do*, she stood up and moved slightly closer, holding out her hand in a long-standing deep need to gain the woman's approval and perhaps even some affectionate gesture. If Summer rejected this very raw and open opportunity to mend some bridges with her daughter, Chelsea would not ever offer an olive branch again. This was a highly charged, crucial act of peace-making from the Commander and it cost her dearly to initiate.
Summer let out a sob of pain, deeply buried and closed emotion raised to the surface. Summer tentatively reached out her hand to Chelsea's. Their finger tips just brushing each others. She then wrapped her hand around her daughter's and pulled the woman closer for a loving and heartfelt embrace. The body of Summer couldn't sustain the heavy torrent of emotion welling up from her soul and under the pressure and strain of the shear shock she fell to her knees slowly crying and taking Chelsea with her.
Chelsea sank too, not really having much choice, and as the two of them ended up sitting on the floor, still locked together in a hug, she buried her face in her mother's neck and sobbed out all the hurt of all those times when the younger versions of Chelsea had cried for her mum.
The older women sniffed she placed both hands on Chelsea's shoulders and pushed her away. Not as a rebuff, as her hands stayed placed on her shoulders, instead she smiled and looked Chelsea up and down, appraising her. "I missed you"
"I missed you to. You have no idea." Chelsea stopped crying and looked back at her mother, seeing things she had never done before. "I didn't understand but I do now. If I'd been married to a man like that, I'd have spent my whole life hunting down whatever killed him and stole his other daughter. I'm sorry I was a brat, thinking only of how much i wanted my mum when you had given me Grammy Ellie and Grandpa Jack to care for me. At least I had love and support and two wonderful surrogate parents. I've been very lucky." she admitted.
Summer smiled. "I still want more grand children though" she said half seriously half jokingly. She wiped away another tear and smiled. "Though I don't think your grand parents would forgive you if you made them great grand parents" She said jokingly
"More? Grandchildren? How many do you already have?" Chelsea spluttered.
She smiled. "Sorry, what I meant to say was I wish to have grand children" she said honestly.
"Well, I hope to oblige you, but not in the near future, ok?" Chelsea replied. "But you can adopt Kim if you like in the meantime... She's Erica's daughter and she seems to have taken to living with Rick and I. Although that may change now Erica is back with Paul as well. It'll be strange without her." she looked at the toy Summer had picked up and then put tidily earlier.
"Hmmmm," said Summer thoughtfully. "Not sure that's a good idea sweety. I'm not sure 'Captain Dunham' would appreciate me looking after her only and favourite grand child."
"Well, no-one objected to *me* doing it." Chelsea shrugged. "But anyway, i think she'll go home now. Or at least go with her parents wherever they're going next."
"Probably not far, if captain Dunham has anything to say about it. You know I am amazed that Rick is even allowed here on the station."
Chelsea laughed. "Um.. Rick wouldn't allow himself to be chained to his mother's apron strings. She's a bit of a scary but he's his own man." she reassured her mother.
"Indeed?" said summer not fully believing the statement. "Well if she is as protective of his sister than of him, then you will have to watch your back, remember as a mother she probably thinks no women is good enough for her little boy."
Chelsea grinned. "I went through the 'dinner invitation' bit and was put on the rack when i first met her. She's formidable, but I'm an Adams. Grampa Jack takes no prisoners and he taught me well." Chelsea had forgotten in relaying this that since then the time-line had changed and that experience that she so clearly remembered had been wiped from the current plane of existence. It didn't occur to her until much later.
Off:
Captain Summer Adams
NPC'd by Dunham
and
Cmdr Chelsea Adams
CMO & AXO - DS5
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham
Post Details
| Title | My Mother's Daughter? | |
| Mission | Judgement | |
| Author(s) | Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham | |
| Posted | Mon Feb 28, 2011 @ 12:49am | |
| Location | CMO's Quarters | |
| Timeline | SD37 | |
| Tag | (concurrent with Kreepy and also Ookie) |
Chelsea took Summer to see the CMO's quarters that she shared with Rick. It was more so they could talk but it was also nice to be able to show her what they called home.
As they walked in, Chelsea began to pick up stray items of clothing or things that needed tidying and instinctively put them away.
Summer helped, picking up stray clothes and brick-a-brac, she got to Rick's work table with his half finished wooden plane models. She changed her mind on tackling the mess. He did seem to be a rather messy pup. She then picked up one of Kim's errant stray toys up off the floor, stared at it and smiled. "So when are you planning on having kids?"
"I don't have a timetable mum, Rick and I both want kids but we're not prepared to bring them up on a Starbase. We're both committed here so it'll have to be when we get to the next stage and neither of us has a clue when that'll happen." Chelsea replied openly.
"Kimmy serves us as a substitute for now." she smiled looking at the gadget in her mother's hand. Then she looked over at Rick's models and added with a chuckle. "And Rick... of course. I'm in no hurry for him to grow 'old and serious'. I love him just the way he is and kids would change that - they'll change both of us when they come."
Chelsea and Rick had talked of kids quite a lot but this was the first time Chelsea had come to *that* particular conclusion. It seemed to come out of something in having her mother here.
"Mum?" she asked. "Can i show you something.... I'm wondering if it's genuine?" She fetched the holo-vid that Anika had given her and played it to Summer. Both women stared at it as it played. The Bajoran man, the child running to him, being swept into his arms, the laughter and the love in his eyes. The older girl, the sound of the voice of the woman recording it. It was very poignant.
There came a sudden sniff and summer turned away from the holographic projection dabbing her watering eyes with the edge of her sleeve. She let out a long breath to give herself a moments pause and ease her growing emotion. "It's real" she said quietly "I left for a mission shortly after that was taken"
"He was very handsome wasn't he?" It was a rhetorical question. "It was good to know that he loved us so much." Chelsea fought with the lump in her throat as she looked at her mother with tear-filled eyes. She had no recollection of her mother's affection. She was sure she must have had it, in order to have missed it so much that it had made her so angry with her remaining parent. Or was it just an expectation that she had been denied.
Tentatively, and convinced she would be rejected with a comment on how it was not what Starfleet officers *do*, she stood up and moved slightly closer, holding out her hand in a long-standing deep need to gain the woman's approval and perhaps even some affectionate gesture. If Summer rejected this very raw and open opportunity to mend some bridges with her daughter, Chelsea would not ever offer an olive branch again. This was a highly charged, crucial act of peace-making from the Commander and it cost her dearly to initiate.
Summer let out a sob of pain, deeply buried and closed emotion raised to the surface. Summer tentatively reached out her hand to Chelsea's. Their finger tips just brushing each others. She then wrapped her hand around her daughter's and pulled the woman closer for a loving and heartfelt embrace. The body of Summer couldn't sustain the heavy torrent of emotion welling up from her soul and under the pressure and strain of the shear shock she fell to her knees slowly crying and taking Chelsea with her.
Chelsea sank too, not really having much choice, and as the two of them ended up sitting on the floor, still locked together in a hug, she buried her face in her mother's neck and sobbed out all the hurt of all those times when the younger versions of Chelsea had cried for her mum.
The older women sniffed she placed both hands on Chelsea's shoulders and pushed her away. Not as a rebuff, as her hands stayed placed on her shoulders, instead she smiled and looked Chelsea up and down, appraising her. "I missed you"
"I missed you to. You have no idea." Chelsea stopped crying and looked back at her mother, seeing things she had never done before. "I didn't understand but I do now. If I'd been married to a man like that, I'd have spent my whole life hunting down whatever killed him and stole his other daughter. I'm sorry I was a brat, thinking only of how much i wanted my mum when you had given me Grammy Ellie and Grandpa Jack to care for me. At least I had love and support and two wonderful surrogate parents. I've been very lucky." she admitted.
Summer smiled. "I still want more grand children though" she said half seriously half jokingly. She wiped away another tear and smiled. "Though I don't think your grand parents would forgive you if you made them great grand parents" She said jokingly
"More? Grandchildren? How many do you already have?" Chelsea spluttered.
She smiled. "Sorry, what I meant to say was I wish to have grand children" she said honestly.
"Well, I hope to oblige you, but not in the near future, ok?" Chelsea replied. "But you can adopt Kim if you like in the meantime... She's Erica's daughter and she seems to have taken to living with Rick and I. Although that may change now Erica is back with Paul as well. It'll be strange without her." she looked at the toy Summer had picked up and then put tidily earlier.
"Hmmmm," said Summer thoughtfully. "Not sure that's a good idea sweety. I'm not sure 'Captain Dunham' would appreciate me looking after her only and favourite grand child."
"Well, no-one objected to *me* doing it." Chelsea shrugged. "But anyway, i think she'll go home now. Or at least go with her parents wherever they're going next."
"Probably not far, if captain Dunham has anything to say about it. You know I am amazed that Rick is even allowed here on the station."
Chelsea laughed. "Um.. Rick wouldn't allow himself to be chained to his mother's apron strings. She's a bit of a scary but he's his own man." she reassured her mother.
"Indeed?" said summer not fully believing the statement. "Well if she is as protective of his sister than of him, then you will have to watch your back, remember as a mother she probably thinks no women is good enough for her little boy."
Chelsea grinned. "I went through the 'dinner invitation' bit and was put on the rack when i first met her. She's formidable, but I'm an Adams. Grampa Jack takes no prisoners and he taught me well." Chelsea had forgotten in relaying this that since then the time-line had changed and that experience that she so clearly remembered had been wiped from the current plane of existence. It didn't occur to her until much later.
Off:
Captain Summer Adams
NPC'd by Dunham
and
Cmdr Chelsea Adams
CMO & AXO - DS5