Lt Alex Storm - Thunder Storm
Karen Morris
((Counsellor's Office - Counselling Suites - Deck 7 - USS Artemis-A))
Alex had recounted in broad terms the events that led her to that day in this office with these emotions. The counselor’s next question simply flowed out of the narrative already painted.
Lux: Where does that leave you now?
The answer was already on the tip of Alex’s tongue.
Storm: Alone. ::Alex took a moment to consider the question more deeply.:: Worried for Cassie’s safety. Wanting to find out if we both had compromised better, could we have … not just made-the-marriage-work … but I find myself wondering if we could have found our way to a good marriage.
Alex looked up into Lori’s eyes. The emotions felt very overwhelming and still very raw. She wouldn’t have known if she looked at the counselor for confirmation for condemnation or for commendation. Everything seemed jumbled.
Lux: That's not unusual for arranged marriages to have this conflict. There's an extra layer that other types of marriages don't often have. You're both discovering yourselves, and then you have to discover yourselves in this relationship. On top of that you mentioned that you had Cassie to bring you both ‘closer’ :: leans forward :: It's a lot of pressure for you? If I could present to you a solution with the click of your fingers, how do you think you could get yourself out of this corner?
Storm: I’m conflicted and confused about what’s next. Do I let him go? Should I let him go? ::Looking the counselor directly in the eyes:: Legally, he kidnapped our daughter. Should I do everything in my power to bring him to justice? ::Breaking eye contact, Alex looked back into the glass in her hands.:: I’m a black and white person, Counselor. I don’t like these unanswered questions. I don’t like being unsure of the best course of action.
Lux: Well you've come here to help to answer some of those questions. That's taking action :: she smiles kindly :: It might not be as fun as firing a phaser but it can be just as effective.
Alex nodded her understanding - even affirmation of what Lux had said. She knew it was supposed to do something. It didn’t always feel like she was making progress.
Storm: ::Softly, looking only down through the cup to the floor.:: What I really want is to see my daughter, to make sure that she’s safe, to make sure that she’s happy, and cared for…
Lux: :: nods :: You love her very much, I can tell. It causes you great pain to be separated from her. If you are willing, I'd like to discuss the kidnapping, as you call it, some more?
Storm: I don’t know if kidnapping is the right word. ::Alex paused to swallow - it gave her a moment to search for her words.:: When one parent, takes a child away from another parent without that person’s consent, it looks like kidnapping to me. Especially when the child was taken and I wasn’t even officially informed what Kona had done until days later.
Lux: You are conflicted about what may be best for Cassie? I can't help but be reminded of what you said earlier about having to give up your independence when you married Kona and then fighting to keep your career? That sense of being cornered - as you put it.
Alex wasn’t sure she was going to like what the counselor was going to say. Maybe it was a sense she got from Lux - that overflow of emotion before she spoke again. All she could manage was …
Storm: Yes?
Lux: And when Kona takes your daughter - essentially forcing you to give her up? Something else that's been taken from you? But ironically allows you the freedom to step out of one particular corner and pursue your career?
Alex set the cup back down on the table and crossed her legs, setting her hands in her lap. Her jaw looked like it might begin to quiver and her eyes were shiny. She took a slow, deep, steadying breath. At first the words seemed to crawl out of her mouth on their own - slowly and methodically.
Storm: There’s a big difference between a choice I make to sacrifice myself, and asking my daughter to make a sacrifice on my behalf. ::There was a very long pause as Alex fought to maintain her closely guarded decorum.:: Cassie shouldn’t have to choose between us.
Lux: Response.
Her words were contained power, like a crack using its fingernails to hold back the water behind a dam - the water which was pushing ever harder to get out to break its constraints and to be free of the restrictions. It sought to ROAR and run and rush in every way it desired. It desired at first to overwhelm, to deluge the earth, and to destroy everything in its path. But what Alex didn’t understand was that after that release of water and vehemence, eventually, it would refresh the land with its moisture - to aid in bringing forth new life again - if only she would let it.
Storm: I brought a little girl into this world. I will not abandon her. I will not have her father let her think that I don’t love her or that I don’t want her.
Lux: Response
Alex’s voice fell to almost a whisper, but the power was still behind it - pushing it even harder than before it possible. But Alex was a willful one and refused to give in to the emotions crying to get out.
Storm: Because he took her from me. You don’t take a child away from her mother and then tell her that her mother loves her very much and wants so badly to be with her. The two don’t go together.
Lux: Response
~*~
Tags / TBC
~*~
Lt Alex Storm
Tactical Officer
USS Artemis
O240103SK2